Honors Projects
Showing 21 - 30 of 564 Items
Re-envisioning the Tropics: Nick Joaquin's Philippine Gothic
Date: 2022-01-01
Creator: Ella Marie Jaman
Access: Open access
- This paper examines selected stories from Filipino author, Nick Joaquin, through a gothic lens. Drawing from recent development in Gothic studies, I work within a tropical gothic and postcolonial gothic framework to suggest a localized "Philippine gothic" represented within Nick Joaquin's work. Stories examined include the novel "The Woman Who Had Two Navels," as well as the short stories "Summer Solstice, Mass of St. Sylvestre," and "The Order of Melkizedek."
Role of the Dopamine Subtype 1 Receptor (D1R) Modulation of the Ih Current in Rhythmic Spinal Mammalian Motor Networks Access to this record is restricted to members of the Bowdoin community. Log in here to view.
- Restriction End Date: 2025-06-01
Date: 2022-01-01
Creator: Grace Soeun Lee
Access: Access restricted to the Bowdoin Community
Enhancer usage variation assessed via chromatin-conformation within and among three species of Drosophila This record is embargoed.
- Embargo End Date: 2027-05-19
Date: 2022-01-01
Creator: Maia B. Granoski
Access: Embargoed
The Current Hunt for Nitric Oxide's Effects on the Homarus americanus Cardiac Ganglion
Date: 2022-01-01
Creator: Joanna Lin
Access: Open access
- The crustacean heartbeat is produced and modulated by the cardiac ganglion (CG), a central pattern generator. In the American lobster, Homarus americanus, the CG consists of 4 small premotor cells (SCs) that electrically and chemically synapse onto 5 large motor cells (LCs). Rhythmic driver potentials in the SCs generate bursting in the LCs, which elicit downstream cardiac muscle contractions that are essential for physiological functions. Endogenous neuromodulators mediate changes in the CG to meet homeostatic demands caused by environmental stressors. Nitric oxide (NO), a gaseous neuromodulator, inhibits the lobster CG. Heart contractions release NO, which directly decreases the CG burst frequency and indirectly decreases the heartbeat amplitude, to mediate negative feedback. I investigated NO’s inhibitory effects on the CG to further understand the mechanisms underlying intrinsic feedback. Using extracellular recordings, I examined NO modulation of the SCs and LCs when coupled in the intact circuit and when firing independently in the ligatured preparation. Using two-electrode voltage clamp, I additionally analyzed the modulation of channel kinetics. Based on previous studies, I hypothesized that NO decreases the burst frequency of the LCs and SCs by modulating conductance properties of the voltage-gated A-type potassium current (IA). My data showed that NO decreased the burst frequency in the LCs and the burst duration in the SCs in a state-dependent manner. Furthermore, NO increased the IA inactivation time constant to decrease the LCs’ burst frequency. Thus, NO mediated inhibitory effects on cardiac output by differentially targeting both cell types and altering the IA current kinetics.
Determining the influence of proximal Zeste binding sites and promoters on rates of transvection This record is embargoed.
- Embargo End Date: 2026-05-17
Date: 2023-01-01
Creator: Molly Henderson
Access: Embargoed
Modulation of ionic currents by nitric oxide negative feedback in the lobster cardiac ganglion Access to this record is restricted to members of the Bowdoin community. Log in here to view.
- Restriction End Date: 2026-06-01
Date: 2021-01-01
Creator: Emily Renee King
Access: Access restricted to the Bowdoin Community
Education Amid Stabilization: The Varied Effects of Military Intervention on Public Schooling in Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso
Date: 2021-01-01
Creator: Arjun S. Mehta
Access: Open access
- At the intersection of international relations, comparative politics, and war consequence studies, this paper seeks to evaluate the effects of supportive foreign military intervention on education provision in three neighboring Central Sahel countries: Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso. In the wake of a Tuareg insurgency and a 2012 coup d’état in Mali, the proliferation of jihadist violence in the tri-border Liptako-Gourma region has been met by a proliferation of foreign interveners. Does stabilization— the form of intervention in the Central Sahel— improve education provision, as measured by diminishing jihadist attacks on schools and school closures due to violence? This paper hypothesizes that where there is a larger scale of intervention, there is more security— and thus an environment more conducive to education provision. Although insecurity in the three Central Sahel countries has shared origins, each country has a distinct scale of intervention. In placing Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso on a spectrum of stabilization (from largest- to smallest-scale), this paper conducts a comparative test to determine how intervention affects education provision. Qualitative and quantitative data analyses reveal that, while a larger scale of intervention (in Mali) guarantees neither better security nor more favorable education provision, the absence of intervention (in Burkina Faso) facilitates unfavorable security and education outcomes. This paper concludes that destabilizing security-centric conceptions of stabilization may lead to more lasting peace and more accessible education in the Central Sahel and beyond.
On the Dirichlet L-functions and the L-functions of Cusp Forms
Date: 2021-01-01
Creator: Nawapan Wattanawanichkul
Access: Open access
- The main objects of our study are L-functions, which are meromorphic functions on the complex plane that analytically continue from the series of the form \sum_{n=1}^{\infty} \frac{a_n}{n^s}, where {a_n} is a sequence of complex numbers. In particular, we are interested in two families of L-functions: ''The Dirichlet L-functions" and ''the L-functions of cusp forms." The former refers to the L-functions whose a_n's are determined by Dirichlet characters, whereas cusp forms determine the latter. We begin our study with the celebrated Riemann zeta function, the simplest Dirichlet L-function, and discuss some of its well-known properties: the Euler product, analytic continuation, functional equation, Riemann hypothesis, and Euler's formula for its critical values. Then, we generalize our exploration to the Dirichlet L-functions and point out some analogous properties to those of the Riemann zeta function. Moreover, we present our original work on computing the critical values of the Dirichlet L-function associated with the primitive character mod 4, or what is known as the Dirichlet beta function. Lastly, we establish some knowledge of the theory of modular forms and cusp forms, which are nicely-behaved modular forms, and discuss some properties of the L-functions of cusp forms.
Plant-mediated interactions within the milkweed insect community
Date: 2021-01-01
Creator: Katie J. Galletta
Access: Open access
- Induced defenses following herbivore damage can modify a plant’s chemical or physical characteristics and alter the plant’s interactions with subsequent herbivores. Common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) provides an excellent system with which to study plant response-mediated interactions given its small but highly specialized herbivorous insect community and its ability to increase toxic cardenolide concentrations and latex production throughout its tissues upon attack. I conducted observational field surveys quantifying leaf damage to examine whether the indirect plant-mediated interactions amongst the milkweed herbivore community as demonstrated in other studies also occur in situ, as well as how foliar herbivory impacts insect flower visitation on A. syriaca. I found that four-eyed milkweed beetle (Tetraopes tetrophthalmus) damage had a negative effect on subsequent monarch (Danaus plexippus) larvae and swamp milkweed leaf beetle (Labidomera clivicollis) damage. I also found that monarchs laid more eggs on milkweed with no herbivore damage. Additionally, I observed a negative relationship between A. syriaca foliar herbivory and flower visitation, which has not been previously demonstrated but illustrates the various potential costs of herbivory to plant fitness. My work’s focus on observing the effects of natural herbivore damage offers insight as to how plant-mediated interactions operate among the milkweed insect community in situ. Furthermore, this study demonstrates how plant responses to herbivory in general can modulate ecological relationships between species that do not directly interact with each other.
A Comparative Perspective on Colonial Influence in the Effectiveness of Foreign Aid in South Korea and Algeria
Date: 2021-01-01
Creator: Viv Daniel
Access: Open access
- South Korea and Algeria are both formerly colonized nations with a history of dependence on foreign aid. Their former colonizers, Japan and France respectively, collaborated closely throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries. However, despite colonial linkages and similarities in early developmental trajectories, South Korea has grown into a donating member of the OECD and one of the world’s largest economies, while Algeria continues to struggle both economically and politically. This paper engages existing literature on postcolonial development and foreign aid by arguing that the attitudes towards colonization and the motivations for undertaking it on the part of colonial powers can have as large an impact on the success of foreign aid as the endogenous circumstances of the states receiving such aid.