Recently, three distinct isoforms of phospholipase D (PLD) were identified in Arabidopsis thaliana. PLD α represents the well-known form found in plants, while PLD β and γ have been only recently discovered (Pappan et al., 1997b; Qin et al., 1997). These isoforms differ in substrate selectivity and cofactors required for activity. Here, I report that PLD β and γ isoforms were active toward N-acylphosphatidylethanolamine (NAPE), but PLD α was not. The ability of PLD β and γ to hydrolyze NAPE marks a key difference from PLD α. N-acylethanolamines (NAE), the hydrolytic products of NAPE by PLD β and γ, inhibited PLD α from castor bean and cabbage. Inhibition of PLD α by NAE was dose-dependent and inversely proportional to acyl chain length and degree of unsaturation. Enzyme kinetic analysis suggested non-competitive inhibition of PLD α by NAE 14:0. In addition, a 1.2-kb tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) cDNA fragment was isolated that possessed a 74% amino acid identity to Arabidopsis PLD β indicating that this isoform is expressed in tobacco cells. Collectively, these results provide evidence for NAE producing PLD activities and suggest a possible regulatory role for NAE with respect to PLD α.

The purpose of this project is to produce a complete and thorough notebook that may be used to supplement laboratory coursework. Its intent is to be used primarily by the students to aid them in understanding background information and the proper laboratory procedures involved in various types of experiments. The laboratory notebook is a summation of all the experiments and procedures used in the six-credit hour Advanced Microbial and Molecular Biology (BIOL 5160) course offered during the summer semester at the University of North Texas. This class is a team taught effort by Professors O'Donovan and Kunz. The course is constructed as an intensive practice exercise to teach the student about gene mutations, biosynthetic pathways, preparation and analysis of plasmid DNA, and many other topics included in the notebook.

Advanced laboratory techniques for Microbial and Molecular Biology at the graduate level are presented in this thesis. The procedures for the laboratory experiments are set forth in detail. This laboratory is conducted as two parts, each by a different professor. Part 1 covers the experiments conducted by Dr G.A.O. Donovan. These experiments include an introduction, staining procedures, biochemical reactions, mutagenesis experiment, essays,. preparation and analysis of plasmid DNA and various other topics. Part 2 covers the experiments conducted by Dr. Daniel Kunz and includes various topics like media preparation, phenotyping strains, conjugative transfer of plasmids, SDS-PAGE, induction and measurement of enzyme and transposon mutagenesis

Women in distressed relationships who had sustained severe psychological abuse and either no, moderate, or severe violence from their partner were included (N = 93). Men's and women's alcohol use did not differ with level of violence. Different patterns were found in the moderate violence group regarding women's beliefs about their partner's substance problem, men's psychological abuse, and the relationship of men's and women's quantity of alcohol use and times intoxicated. Uncertainty resulting from moderate violence may strengthen the emotional impact of psychological abuse. Even when psychological abuse is exacerbated by violence, women may use active coping techniques rather than drinking to cope with abusive relationships. The findings suggest that an inordinate focus on alcohol abuse may be ineffective in combating the problem of domestic violence.

This thesis discusses pragmatist philosophy in the nineteenth century and its effect on American literature of the time.

Results of a functional analysis indicated that the self-injurious behavior (SIB) of an adult female with profound mental retardation occurred primarily in the alone and demand conditions. Graphs of the separate topographies (head slaps and head bangs) showed that head banging occurred in the alone condition and that both head banging and head slapping occurred in the demand condition. A data analysis procedure to identify within-session trends across sessions and fluctuations in rates of SIB by topography revealed that most of the demands escaped were escaped by head slaps and that over 80% of all head slaps were associated with escape, compared to less than 1%of all head bangs, indicating that head banging and head slapping were members of separate functional response classes. Treatment consisted of noncontingent availability of preferred leisure materials, and produced substantial decreases of both head banging and head slapping. Interpretation of the results are discussed, as well as some implications and limitations of the study.

The purpose of this study was to assess rape attitudes and empathy levels of students at a university in North Texas. The Attitudes Toward Rape questionnaire and the Rape Empathy Scale were administered to 387 undergraduate students. Dependent variables were attitudes and empathy and independent variables were prior knowledge or experience as a rape victim, having female siblings, gender, marital status, and age. Significance was found between rape-intolerant attitudes and both prior experience as a victim (p < .001), and gender (p < .001). Significance was also found between empathy and experience as a rape victim (p < .035) and gender (p < .032).

This paper discusses the concept of figurative formalism and its application in six paintings on canvas by the author. Linda Leonhart McCall explores the work of Johannes Vermeer, Edward Hopper, and Richard Diebenkorn in discussing abstraction and representation.

I planned to explore the concept of the dichotomy of barriers and connections further. The works I planned to produce would incorporate a variety of printing techniques, drawing, and conceptual development. Each technique and method allowed for my perception to speak in a slightly different voice. The use of these multiple techniques would allow me to explore fully the complexity of barriers and connections in a manner more comprehensive than the one technique alone.

A behavioral model for acute responses in bivalves, was developed using time series analysis for use in a real-time biomonitoring unit. Stressed bivalves closed their shell and waited for the stressful conditions to pass. Baseline data showed that group behavior of fifteen bivalves was periodic, however, individuals behaved independently. Group behavior did not change over a period of 20 minutes more than 30 percent, however, following toxic exposures the group behavior changed by more than 30 percent within 20 minutes. Behavior was mathematically modeled using autoregression to compare current and past behavior. A logical alarm applied to the behavior model determined when organisms were stressed. The ability to disseminate data collected in real time via the Internet was demonstrated.

This study examines the social and economic characteristics of the men who joined the Confederate Fourteenth Texas Infantry Regiment during the Civil War and provides a narrative history of the regiment's wartime service. The men of the Fourteenth Infantry enlisted in 1862 and helped to turn back the Federal Red River Campaign in April 1864. In creating a portrait of these men, the author used traditional historical sources (letters, diaries, medical records, secondary narratives) as well as statistical data from the 1860 United States census, military service records, and state tax rolls. The thesis places the heretofore unknown story of the Fourteenth Texas Infantry within the overall body of Civil War historiography.

The focus of the problem was to challenge the more traditional. Western approaches to jewelry as adornment in respect to areas such as placement and scale. Approaching adornment as sculptural forms interacting with the human body could possibly challenge the individual's awareness of jewelry as wearable art. This approach brought up the issue of using the human body as a pedestal for adornment.

This thesis examines British Foreign Office views of Russia and Anglo-Russian relations prior to the 1907 Anglo-Russian Entente. British diplomatic documents, memoirs, and papers in the Public Record Office reveal diplomatic concern with ending Central Asian tensions. This study examines Anglo-Russian relations from the pre-Lansdowne era, including agreements with Japan (1902) and France (1904), the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-05, and the shift in Liberal thinking up to the Anglo-Russian Entente. The main reason British diplomats negotiated the Entente was less to end Central Asian friction, this thesis concludes, than the need to check Germany, which some Foreign Office members believed, was bent upon European hegemony.

This study provides a genre analysis of Janet Reno's apologia in response to the Mt. Carmel disaster. Discussions of the events leading up to the crisis, Reno's rhetorical response, and relevant situational constraints and exigencies are provided.

A life history study of Callibaetis floridanus was conducted over the wet cycle of a playa on the Southern High Plains of Texas from June through September 1995.

As the Chair-Woman series has progressed, I have explored the various means to enhance its interpretation. I have determined that materials such as wood and fabric result in a more intimate reading than bronze. However, I have not explored how scale and proximity to other objects will affect the reading. The questions I am seeking to resolve relate to possibilities for expanding the meaning and significance in the Chair-Woman series.

Bacterial aspartate transcarbamoylases (ATCase's) are divided into three classes that correspond to taxonomic relationships within the bacteria. The opportunistic pathogen Moraxeila catarrhalis has undergone several reclassifications based on traditional microbiological criteria. The previously uncharacterized ATCase from M. catarrhalis was purified to homogeneity and its chemical properties characterized. The ATCase from M. catarrhalis is a class C ATCase with an apparent molecular mass of 480-520 kDa. The M. catarrhalis ATCase is a dodecomer composed of six 35 kDa polypeptides and six 45 kDa polypeptides. The enzyme has an unusually high pH optimum of greater than pH 10. The enzyme exhibited hyperbolic kinetic with a Km for aspartate of 2 mM. A single, separate 78 kDa dihydroorotase from M. catarrhalis was identified and it was not associated with ATCase. These data support the reclassification of M. catarrhalis out of the Neisseriaceae family.

This thesis explores the films produced by leftist filmmakers of the 1930s which reflect the contemporary urban life in Shanghai.

Standard psychological assessment instruments have not produced consistent results by which decisions can be made regarding the appropriate placement and legal disposition of an individual who has committed a sexual offense. The purpose of the present study was to systematically investigate deception and dissimulation as measured by three assessment instruments commonly utilized with sex offenders. A denial classification system was utilized in order to classify offenders into categories based on their level of admission to the legal system. The four group classification system did not produce significant differences on all measures of deception and dissimulation. Contrary to previous research, admitters were found to respond more defensively than deniers on one of the assessment instruments. In addition, partial deniers were identified as responding significantly differently from both admitters and deniers on a separate instrument. The differences found suggest that sex offenders' level of deception is multifaceted. Difficulties in identifying classificatory strategies and implications for theoretical conceptions of denial within this population are discussed.

Carbonic anhydrase is a ubiquitous zinc-metalloenzyme that catalyzes the interconversion of carbon dioxide and carbonate and has been found to play a wide range of roles in animals, plants and bacteria. Cotton genomic and cDNA libraries were screened for the plastidial isoform of carbonic anhydrase. The nucleotide sequences of two 1.2 Kb partial cDNA clones were determined. These clones exhibit high homology to carbonic anhydrases from other dicot plants and possess all the expected peptide motifs. For example, serine and threonine rich chloroplastic targeting peptide and conserved zinc binding residues are both present. These clones were utilized to isolate two carbonic anhydrase genes that were shown to encode different isoforms by PCR and RFLP analysis.

The purpose of this study was to examine Dienstbier's (1989) hypothesis that SAM elicitation is prompted by subject's cognitive expectations of an acute stressor ('challenge' or 'threat' appraisal). Reported anxiety was also measured.

A study was undertaken to explore relationships between wetland characteristics which make them efficient water purifiers versus their ability to serve as wildlife habitat. The effects of designing constructed wetlands for improved habitat on water treatment efficiencies were quantified. Results indicate that some sacrifice in treatment efficiency is required and that the degree of efficiency reduction is dependant upon pollutant loading rates. However, sacrifice in efficiency is much smaller than increase in habitat quality, and can be offset by increasing wetland area. A practical, theoretical application was then attempted.

This study explores how different levels of juxtaposition affect the interpretation of a message and how the meaning of stereotypes work.

The proposed biology curriculum for non-majors has one main objective, namely to improve scientific literacy among college students. The National Science Education Standards defines scientific literacy as "the knowledge and understanding of scientific concepts and processes required for personal decision making, participation in civic and cultural affairs, and economic productivity". The suggested strategies to accomplish this goal are to limit the number of topics covered, introduce relevant scientific terminology, emphasize general biological concepts and themes, and hone critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Activities such as group projects, written and oral assignments, and class discussions are effective tools to assess student ability to communicate scientifically. It is also important for students to make connections between the course subject matter and how it affects real life events.