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Can individuals support for radical right parties in European countries be explained as a consequence of globalization? This quantitative study proceeds from the cleavage theory and examines the theory of winners and losers of globalization by studying the importance of three mechanisms on a micro level. It compares the importance of the economic, cultural and political mechanisms effect on individual support for radical right parties in countries within the European Union.  The study finds evidence that supports the theory of winners and losers of globalization and evidence that indicates that the cultural mechanism is the most important of the three to explain individual support for radically right parties.

The present study has resulted in the development of a procedure for the specific chemical fragmentation of human phosphoglucose isomerase into a minimal number of peptides. A two-cycle procedure for cleaving the protein with 2-nitro-5- thiocyanobenzoic acid results in four primary peptides and three overlap peptides. The peptides can be readily separated on the basis of their size by using sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Preliminary peptide alignments have been considered, and amino acid analyses have been performed. End-terminal analyses of the enzyme revealed a carboxyl terminal sequence of Asp-Val-Gln and a blocked amino terminus. The cysteine cleavage procedure provides an excellent method for the identification and location of specific genetic mutations of human phosphoglucose isomerase.

One third of the world's population is infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacterium that causes TB. During an infection, bacteria often survive host immune system attacks, which include oxidative stress conditions for bacteria growing inside macrophages. This makes treatment difficult and time-consuming. We hypothesize bacteria can adapt to environmental conditions by changing their mRNA maturation and degradation profiles. Using a model system, Mycobacteruim smegmatis, we focus on how mRNA expression is affected by oxidative stress. After construction and sequencing of RNA expression libraries, preliminary analysis showed that after three hours of H2O2 exposure most upregulated genes were related to DNA repair, while downregulated genes included transport proteins. After six hours of exposure, upregulated genes were similar to three hours and downregulated genes included tRNAs. 5' end mapping libraries were also constructed to access differential cleavage site abundance under oxidative stress conditions. We also investigated the roles RNase J may have in stress response and mRNA processing in Mycobacteria. RNase J and RNase E are thought to be the major RNases in bacteria. While most bacteria only have one of them, mycobacteria encode both in their genome, with RNase J being non-essential. We constructed a set of 4 strains (WT, RNase J overexpression, RNase J deletion, and complemented RNase J deletion) and tested their drug resistance and stress tolerance. Results suggests that RNase J deletion and overexpression alter drug sensitivity. Stress tolerance assays showed that WT is more tolerant to oxidative stress, followed by RNase J deletion strain and overexpression and complemented RNase J deletion strains, with the last two showing no growth when cultured with H2O2. Analysis of the expression profile of these strains was performed to help understand if gene expression differences are responsible for the phenotypes observed. For the complemented RNase J deletion, one operon had almost all its genes upregulated. This operon encodes a hydrogenase (Hyd3), suggesting that redox balance in the strain is perturbed.

This study describes the effects of gender and age on peer acceptance in primary-grade, multiage classrooms at Edith Bowen Laboratory School at Utah State University. The population described consisted of six multiage classrooms composed of male and female students from 6 to 8 years old. The classrooms were approximately balanced by gender and age. Students spent the entire day and received all instruction in the multiage setting. Students completed "Work With" and "Play With" sociometric rating-scale instruments. For both instruments, results revealed the existence of "gender cleavage"--both genders preferred work and play partners of their own gender. In general, age accounted for more variance in peer acceptance scores for older students than younger students. However, eta-squared statistics demonstated that except for 8-year-old males, gender accounted for much more of the variance in peer acceptance scores than age. The correlation coefficient for paired peer acceptance scores for each student on the two instruments was .94. These results support the conclusion that students did not differentiate responses based on "Work With" and "Play With" criteria . Test-retest reliabilities for the "Work With" and "Play With" instruments with a 1-week testing interval were .94 and .92, respectively.

<p>Homing endonuclease genes (HEGs) are selfish genetic elements that mediate their own super-Mendelian inheritance. This is mediated by the homing endonuclease cleavage of a HEG^-allele followed by recombination-repair with a HEG⁺ allele.</p><p>The majority of the HEGs are encoded in intervening sequences (IVSs). The insertion of the IVS interrupts the endonuclease recognition site, making the genome with the IVS resistant to further cleavage by homing endonucleases with specificity for that particular sequence, but susceptible for homing endonucleases with a target not affected by the IVS insert. In 39 studied strains of the <i>Bacillus cereus</i> group, 28 IVSs were found in the <i>nrdIEF</i> operon. Phylogenetic studies of these sequences showed a scattered distribution of the IVSs, indicating a frequent horizontal gene transfer and that there might be competition between the different IVSs in the <i>nrdIEF</i> operon in the <i>Bacillaceae</i> family. One novel group I intron was shown to encode a functional homing endonuclease with a GIY-(X)₈-YIG motif, expanding the family motif to GIY-(X)₈-₁₁-YIG. Interestingly, by studying the known insertion sites for IVSs in the ribonuclotide reductase genes, we show that the majority of the insertions are at conserved motifs, indicating that conservation is important for IVS survival.</p><p>Most freestanding HEGs in bacteriophage T4 cleave both HEG⁺ and HEG^- alleles, possibly providing a competitive advantage for the host organism when two phages infect the same bacterium. Two novel freestanding HEGs replace two putative HEGs in T4 in some T-even-like phages. The characterisation of these HEGs showed that both cleave double stranded DNA. SegH was shown to promote homing of its gene. Hef showed no homing, possibly due to general exclusion of other phages. The <i>mobE</i> putative HEG was shown to be homing proficient and showed strong general DNA degradation when expressed in <i>Escherichia coli.</i></p>

Homing endonuclease genes (HEGs) are selfish genetic elements that mediate their own super-Mendelian inheritance. This is mediated by the homing endonuclease cleavage of a HEG- allele followed by recombination-repair with a HEG+ allele. The majority of the HEGs are encoded in intervening sequences (IVSs). The insertion of the IVS interrupts the endonuclease recognition site, making the genome with the IVS resistant to further cleavage by homing endonucleases with specificity for that particular sequence, but susceptible for homing endonucleases with a target not affected by the IVS insert. In 39 studied strains of the Bacillus cereus group, 28 IVSs were found in the nrdIEF operon. Phylogenetic studies of these sequences showed a scattered distribution of the IVSs, indicating a frequent horizontal gene transfer and that there might be competition between the different IVSs in the nrdIEF operon in the Bacillaceae family. One novel group I intron was shown to encode a functional homing endonuclease with a GIY-(X)8-YIG motif, expanding the family motif to GIY-(X)8-11-YIG. Interestingly, by studying the known insertion sites for IVSs in the ribonuclotide reductase genes, we show that the majority of the insertions are at conserved motifs, indicating that conservation is important for IVS survival. Most freestanding HEGs in bacteriophage T4 cleave both HEG+ and HEG- alleles, possibly providing a competitive advantage for the host organism when two phages infect the same bacterium. Two novel freestanding HEGs replace two putative HEGs in T4 in some T-even-like phages. The characterisation of these HEGs showed that both cleave double stranded DNA. SegH was shown to promote homing of its gene. Hef showed no homing, possibly due to general exclusion of other phages. The mobE putative HEG was shown to be homing proficient and showed strong general DNA degradation when expressed in Escherichia coli.

Dictyostelium DdINCENP is a chromosomal passenger protein associated with centromeres, the spindle midzone and poles during mitosis and the cleavage furrow during cytokinesis. Disruption of the single DdINCENP gene revealed important roles for this protein in mitosis and cytokinesis. DdINCENP null cells lack a robust spindle midzone and are hypersensitive to microtubule depolymerizing drugs suggesting that their spindles may not be stable. Furthermore DdCP224, a protein homologous to the microtubule-stabilizing protein TOGp/XMAP215, was absent from the spindle midzone of DdINCENP null cells. Overexpression of DdCP224 rescued the weak spindle midzone defect of DdINCENP null cells. While not required for the localization of the myosin II contractile ring and subsequent formation of a cleavage furrow, DdINCENP is important for the abscission of daughter cells at the end of cytokinesis. The localization of DdINCENP at the cleavage furrow is modulated by myosin II. Loss of myosin II restricted the localization of DdINCENP to a narrow zone at the cleavage furrow. Kif12, a homolog of mitotic kinesin like protein (MKLP), was essential for relocalization of DdINCENP from the central spindle to the cleavage furrow. Furthermore, Kif12 was also localized at the cortex of the cleavage furrow and its localization during cytokinesis closely resembled that of DdINCENP, suggesting a possible interaction between them. The correct localization of DdINCENP during cytokinesis also required its N-terminal sequence. DdINCENP1-500 was found at the cleavage furrow and interacted with the actin cytoskeleton. Domain analysis of DdINCENP also revealed that its DdINCENP1-500 was sufficient to rescue the weak spindle defect of DdINCENP null cells. / text

In vitro, G-rich sequences form highly stable secondary structures known as G-Quadruplexes. These structures have been characterized by circular dichroism nuclear magnetic resonance and X-ray crystallography; although their detection in vivo has remained elusive. Due to the biological implication of a transisent and polymorphic secondary structure forming within the hypothetical G-Quadruplex forming regions, there is growing interest to understand their in vivo molecular dynamics. / text

This thesis reports the synthesis of new near infrared dyes in three chapters. The first two chapters outline the synthetic procedure for synthesizing mono- and pentamethine cyanine dyes. The initial chapter encompasses the synthesis of asymmetric monomethine dyes with red-shifted optical properties. The second chapter involves the synthesis and assessment of new symmetrical quinolin-4-yl and phenanthridin-6-yl pentamethine dyes as potential oxidative DNA cleavage agents. The last chapter of the thesis details the synthesis and evaluation of new phenoxizinum dyes as contrast agents for insulunomia, a pancreatic cancer. Furthermore, all new compounds were characterized via NMR and their coherent optical properties were obtained.