<p> An attempt is made to determine compositional and textural trends in the direction of sediment transport in middle Triassic cross-bedded sandstone samples collected from northeastern British Columbia. Petrographic measurements of textural and compositional properties were made and a multiple regression analysis was performed on 27 samples collected from a particular lithological unit. The general petrographic aspects of middle Triassic sandstones were investigated and are discussed.</p> / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

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Proteins exist in two conformers. The trans conformation is favored by the most of the amino acids. The proline residue due to its unique geometry has a high probability of being in the cis conformation. Thus the cis/trans isomerisation of the peptide bond preceding the proline residue becomes a rate limiting step in the folding and unfolding of the proteins. The enzymes which catalyze this rate limiting step were discovered by Fischer in porcine kidney and called as peptidyl prolyl cis trans isomerases (PPIases). There are four families of the PPIases. They are the parvulins, cyclophilins, FKBPs and trigger factors. All the four families catalyze a common reaction and the give rise to a stable trans product. We therefore wanted to analyse if cross complementation exists across the PPIase families. Our analysis has shown that the prokaryotic and the PPIase domain of the eukaryotic parvulins show a high structural similarity. The catalytic residues were found to be conserved across the genera. Our study has shown that a single domain 92 amino acid long prokaryotic parvulin PpiC from E.coli could complement for the function of Ess1 in Saacharomyces cerevisiae. We have also shown that under conditions of over expression the carboxy terminus of NifM from Azotobacter vinelandii could functionally replace Ess1 in S. cerevisiae. However the complete nifM was unable to do so. We have shown that the amino terminus of NifM acts as a regulatory unit not only for the PPIase activity of its carboxy terminus domain but also for the PPIase activity of PpiC and human Pin1. Using random mutagenesis we have identified the potential docking sites on amino terminus of NifM. These sites are defined as the residues which are responsible for the regulatory activity of NifM. Further we have found that FKBPs which show a high similarity with human Pin1 was unable to isomerise substrate specific to the parvulins. Our analysis has shown, the substrate binding pocket in FKBP is large due to its aromatic nature. Hence it is unable FKBPs to complement for the function of the parvulins.

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The primary purpose of the investigation was to examine differences in symptom-expression between Caucasians and Asians in response to college-stress. College-stress was defined as adjustment problems that students experience as a function of exposure to a college environment. The propensity of each group to express symptoms in response to stress in somatic (i.e., bodily) versus psychological (i.e., anxiety and depression) modes was investigated. Previous reports have postulated a somatization hypothesis for Asians, as opposed to a psychologization tendency in Caucasians. Intra-Asian differences with respect to symptom-expression were also examined. Data were collected electronically. 115 graduate students participated in the study. Using Fisher's transformations to compare correlations, it was found that neither the somatization nor the psychologization hypotheses were supported. However, within Asians depression demonstrated a stronger association with stress than somatic symptoms. A subsidiary purpose of this investigation was to determine whether attribution-style was an aspect of culture that could lead to differences in symptom-expression. It was hypothesized that Asians would have a more external attribution-style, while Caucasian-Americans would have a more internal style. External style was hypothesized to be related to a somatic tendency, while internal style was hypothesized to be related to a psychological tendency. None of these hypotheses were supported. Finally, some exploratory analyses were carried out to assess the effect of demographic variables on symptom-expression. Sex was related to anxiety symptoms, while level of education was related to somatic symptom-reports. Overall, these findings highlight the need for cross-cultural research in psychology to adopt a more systemic approach in studying variables, as opposed to using merely country/culture as an independent variable. / Ph. D.