In the 10-mer RNA duplex model system a 4-isocyano TEMPO spin-label is individually attached to one strand and two strands are annealed to measure distances. This methodology is limited to systems in which two oligonucleotides are annealed together. To circumvent this limitation and also to explore single-strand dynamics a new methodology was implemented, double spin-labeling. Double spin-labeled single-stranded RNA was investigated as a single-strand and within a duplex via MALDI-TOF-MS, EPR spectroscopy and RP-HPLC. A double spin-labeling strategy in this work will be applicable to large complex RNAs like Group I intron of Tetrahymena thermophilia. Captain Daniel Lawrence, was one of four sloops detailed to serve as a transport to supply the British Florida garrisons. The Industry ran aground on the bar outside of St. Augustine's harbour on May 6, 1764. The transport was carrying six-pound cannons, ammunition and artificer's tools. Further investigation of documents describing eighteenth-century trade and shipping to St. Augustine led to the discovery that the Lawrence family of sea captains provided a vital link between British New York and Spanish St. Augustine. An examination of the materials recovered from Site 8SJ3478 sheds light on exactly what a particular vessel carried during a period of transition in Florida's history.

This work reevaluates commonly accepted interpretations of Seminole ethnogenesis in light of recent scholarship and previously ignored sources from the Spanish archives. It argues that Seminole formation was largely a bi-product of a struggle between two opposing Lower Creek factions: the Creek "nationalists" and the ostensive Creek "partisans" of the British. This factional struggle became increasingly bitter during the French and Indian War and ultimately led to a schism whereby the ostensive "partisans" of the British colonized of the Alachua savanna in the early 1760s to become recognized as the first Florida Seminoles. This work also raises questions about the ostensive Anglophile identity of the first Seminoles and suggests that such an "identity" was based largely on deception and theatrics. In closing, this work addresses the institutional basis of the myth of Seminole aboriginality.