This study describes the development and validation of mutagenized cloned DNA constructs, which correspond to the polymorphic regions of the class II region of the HLA complex. The constructs were used to verify the allelic specificity of primers and probes in polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based HLA typing assays such as Sequence Specific Primers (SSP) and Sequence Specific Oligonucleotide Probes (SSOP). The constructs consisted of the entire polymorphic region of exon 2 of class II HLA allele sequences that included primer annealing sites or probe hybridization sites. An HLA allele sequence was inserted into a plasmid, cloned, then mutagenized to match a specific HLA allele, and finally, the correct clone was verified by bidirectional sequencing of the insert. Thus, the construct created a cloned reference DNA sample for any specific allele, and can be used to validate the accuracy of various molecular methodologies.

The glyoxalase system mediates the conversion of methylglyoxal, a toxic ketoaldehyde, to D-lactic acid. The system is composed of two enzymes, glyoxalase I (Glo-I) and glyoxalase II (Glo-II), and exhibits an absolute requirement for a catalytic quantity of glutathione (GSH). Glo-I catalyzes the isomerization of a hemithioacetal, formed non-enzymatically from methylglyoxal and GSH, to the corresponding a -D-hydroxyacid thioester, s-D-lactoylglutathione (SLG). Glo-II catalyzes the irreversible breakdown of SLG to D-lactate and GSH. We have observed that ATP or GTP significantly inhibits the Glo-II activity of tissue homogenates from various sources. We have developed a rapid, one step chromatography procedure to purify Glo-II such that the purified enzyme remains "sensitive" to inhibition by ATP or GTP (Glo-II-s). Studies indicate that inhibition of Glo-II-s by nucleotides is restricted to ATP, GTP, ADP, and GDP, with ATP appearing most effective. Kinetics studies have shown that ATP acts as a partial non-competitive inhibitor of Glo-II-s activity, and further suggest that two kinetically distinguishable forms of the enzyme exist. The sensitivity of pure Glo-II-s to nucleotide inhibition is slowly lost on storage even at -80° C. This loss is accelerated at higher temperatures or in the presence of ATP. Kinetics studies on the resultant "insensitive" …

This study examined the way in which the top 100 "most wired" colleges and universities provide online student services. Named by a national publication in May 1998, these colleges and universities were chosen because of their technological infrastructure, courses offered online, public computers on campus, and online student services, among other aspects.

With her Book Club, talk show host Oprah Winfrey has used the relatively new technology of television to revive literature. Despite the odds against her--selecting hard-to-read, quirky books by generally unknown authors--Winfrey has successfully created women's spaces for the 1990s, not so different from the American women's social clubs from the late 1800s and early 1900s, and the French salons of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. This study will show how Oprah's Book Club allows readers, especially women, to use the psychological processes of transference and transactional reading by using fictional literature from the Book Club to discuss sensitive areas of their lives.

Utilization of World Wide Web style Web-Based Intranet Systems (W-BIS) is a rapidly expanding information delivery technique in many organizations. Published reports concerning these systems have cited return on investment values exceeding 1300% and direct payback time periods as low as six to twelve weeks. While these systems have been widely implemented, little theoretically grounded research has been conducted in relation to users' acceptance, utilization or the perceived quality of these systems. The study employed a two-site investigation of corporate Web-Based Intranet Systems, with surveys distributed via the traditional mail system. The complete survey instrument distributed to employees included the ServQual/ServPerf, User Information Satisfaction, Ease of Use/Usefulness, and Computer Playfulness instruments. In addition to these previously developed instruments, the survey instrument for this study included measures of Web-Based Intranet Systems utilization and usefulness along with respondent demographics and subordinate-reported managerial commitment. This study investigated the reliability and validity of the ServQual/ServPerf instrument in an information systems service environment. The same analysis was conducted of the more generally accepted User Information Satisfaction instrument.

The opera is scored for chamber orchestra consisting of one oboe, two Bb clarinets, two horns in F, one trumpet in C, one tenor trombone, two percussionists (playing snare drum, bass drum, tambourine, wood block, triangle, suspended cymbal, crash cymbal, agogo bells, cow bell, brake drum, metal whistle, whip, large gong, Glockenspiel, chimes, timpani in F (low) and C), eight or more violins in two parts, six or more violas in two parts, and eight or more cellos in two parts. The characters are Alejandro Jiminez, a dramatic tenor; the Manager of Burger Palace, a baritone; the Suits 1/Fast Food Workers, a choir (SATB) and the Suits 2/Customers, a second choir (SATB), each ideally consisting of eight vocalists for a total of sixteen; the Daydream Figures, which are mimed parts; the Man with Gun, which is a spoken part. The opera, in one act consisting of six scenes and an interlude, is based on a libretto by the composer. There is only one scene change: from an essentially empty stage to a fast food restaurant in Scene 4. The length of the work is approximately sixty to sixty-five minutes.

The intent of this study was to determine what understanding and knowledge parents had of developmentally appropriate practice (DAP). The study examined whether the beliefs of parents who enrolled their children in a National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) accredited program had any impact on their expectations for a philosophy and curriculum that is centered around DAP. In addition, the study examined whether parents' understanding of DAP changed when their children transitioned from infant and toddler programs, to preschool. The study group consisted of parents with children in two privately owned NAEYC accredited centers in 1998 (N=131). Results from parent reports indicated a high level of parent knowledge regarding DAP.

This study addresses on facet of Joseph Turrin's compositional oeuvre: his published works for solo trumpet. Complete histories if all six trumpet compositions are chronicles. A discussion of formal organization and significant style features including harmonic language, melodic style and rhythmic features is included. A detailed performance analysis follows. The degree of difficulty of each work is assessed through an investigation of tessitura, range, melodic contour, endurance factors, fingerings, and technical features of the accompaniment. Analysis of tempi and dynamics, articulation and phrasing, and timbral considerations provides additional points of focus to the study. Finally, the importance of Turrin's works for trumpet and his impact on trumpet literature is assessed. Idiomatic aspects of composition that make Turrin's music attractive to performers are investigated and discussed.

A little-known chamber work by Benjamin Britten is the dramatic cantata Phaedra, op.93, for mezzo-soprano and small orchestra. Among his chamber works, the solo cantata was a musical form used only once by Britten, thus making Phaedra unique among Britten's oeuvre. Britten chose a genre that flourished in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the cantata - as a vehicle for the story of Phaedra. He employs clear allusions to Baroque music in Phaedra by the use of harpsichord and continuo in the recitatives, ornamentation, and word painting. The text for Britten's setting of Phaedra is a translation of Jean Racine's Phedre by the American poet Robert Lowell. From Lowell's complete play, Britten extracted Phaedra's key speeches that deal with her three confessions of incestuous love for her stepson, Hippolytus. These monologues are set in a series of recitatives and arias that make up the entirety of this chamber cantata. In order to gain complete understanding of Phaedra, this document will begin with an investigation into the historical background of Racine's Phedre and the conventions of French tragedy from which it arose. Lowell's translation method will then be explored in comparison to Racine's play. In turn, Britten's extractions from Lowell's translation …

For the purposes of expressive intent, Carter developed compositional strategies that possess qualities congruent with the musical language in his Second Quartet (1959). He employed strategies including tempo modulation, triple groupings, and large-scale ratios to assemble the musical discourse and to guide the listener's perception of large-scale continuity. I label these devices collectively as "preferential strategies" because it is Carter who selects certain pre-compositional ideas that organize musical material and demarcate structural locations. Tempo modulations that organize dual meters and triple groupings that interact in transitional and transformational ways demonstrate his concern with controlling the overall time continuity through local level organization. Large-scale ratio relations between nine interlocking sections of this four movement work illustrate how Carter employs a local strategy that projects a large-scale structure. Recognizing that Carter's ultimate compositional goal prioritizes temporal processes, these proposed preferred strategies articulate a convergence of musical elements.

This dissertation is a cross-national, empirical study of human rights conditions in a dynamic international political economy. The scope of the examination covers 176 developed and developing countries from 1980 through 1993. Through evaluating the numerous theoretical aspects of human rights conceptualization, I draw upon Shue's framework and consider whether there are indeed "basic rights" and which rights should fit into this category. Further, I address the debate between those who claim that these rights are truly universal (applying to all nations and individuals) and those who argue that the validity of a moral right is relative to indigenous cultures. In a similar vein, I empirically investigate whether various human rights are interdependent and indivisible, as some scholars argue, or whether there are inherent trade-offs between various rights provisions. In going beyond the fixation on a single aspect of human rights, I broadly investigate subsistence rights, security rights and political and economic freedom. While these have previously been addressed separately, there are virtually no studies that consider them together and the subsequent linkages between them. Ultimately, a pooled time-series cross-section model is developed that moves beyond the traditional concentration on security rights (also know as integrity of the person rights) …

The goal of this study was to determine relationships between health information behaviors and population health as well as their relationships with particular facets of urban ecology.

"The Religious Dimensions of William Faulkner: An Inquiry into the Dichotomy of Puritanism" traces a secular mode of thinking of American moral superiority and the gospel of success to its religious origins. The study shows that while the basis for American moral superiority derives from the typological correspondence between sacred history and American experience, the gospel of success results from the Puritan preoccupation with work as a virtue instead of a necessity because labor improves one's lot in this world while securing salvation in the next. By explaining how Puritanism begins as a rejection of worldliness but ends as an orgy of materialism, my study raises and addresses the paradoxical nature of the Puritan legacy: Why should the Puritan work ethic, when subverted by its logical conclusion---the gospel of success, result in the undoing of Puritan spirituality in its mission of redeeming the Old World? Furthermore, this inquiry examines the role Puritanism plays in creating the mythologies of America as the New World Garden, the white man as the American Adam, the black man as the American Ham, and the white woman as the American Eve. In the Puritan use of biblical typology, blacks and women function as the white …

Little empirical research has been done to examine the effects that working with traumatized individuals has had on their therapists. It is known that mental health professionals often do suffer ill effects, especially symptoms of secondary traumatic stress disorder. The present investigation tested predictors of secondary traumatic stress disorder in the therapists who provided services for the Oklahoma City bombing. Predictors were therapist social network involvement, years of counseling experience, and amount of self-reported empathy experienced from others. Indicators of secondary traumatic stress were the Frederick Reaction Index-A, the Compassion Fatigue Self-test for Helpers, and the SCL-90R. Hypotheses were tested using a series of hierarchical multiple regressions. Results demonstrated no significance for years of experience or social network, but perceived empathy accounted for 11% of the variance on the SCL-90 and the Compassion Fatigue Self-test for Psychotherapists with social network and years of experience controlled.

Adolescent females are committing an increasing number of violent interpersonal acts. This study used the qualitative technique of focus group interviews to explore social control and self-control factors which impact such behaviors. Forty-seven girls aged 10-18 years described situations and events where interpersonal violence might be used and also what might prevent such acts. For the girls interviewed, social controls were the predominant means of controlling the use of interpersonal violence. Family and peer groups were the most powerful social controls, whether positive or negative. Self-control was deemed important but most girls lacked either the skills or desire to engage in self-control. Violence prevention programs need to teach techniques for improving self-control and increasing self-concept to be most effective.

A stylistic analysis of John Stevens' second brass quintet, Fabrics, which discusses the composer's use of orchestration, harmonic language, rhythmic activity, melodic and formal considerations, and performance practice issues. Collaboration between composer and performer is investigated, particularly through Stevens' status as member of the Wisconsin Brass Quintet, the ensemble for which Fabrics was composed. Biographical information about Stevens and the Wisconsin Brass Quintet is provided, with appendices providing information regarding Stevens' activities as composer and performer and the activities of the Wisconsin Brass Quintet. Stevens was extensively interviewed as source material for this dissertation.

In an attempt to determine the effectiveness of a pretreatment assessment procedure known as the scatter plot (Touchette, MacDonald, & Langer, 1985), direct observational data was collected by 13 middle school teachers on four "problem" students. After four weeks of data collection, interobserver agreement probes were calculated and a visual analysis of the plotted data was performed to ascertain a possible pattern of problem behavior. Additionally, in an attempt to assess the teachers' perceptions of the scatter plot, the 13 teachers were asked to complete a questionnaire. Although a visual analysis of the plotted data suggested a possible pattern of problem behavior, interobserver agreement probes failed to achieve a desired overall reliability of 90% or higher. Despite a low IOA, results of the questionnaire administered to the 13 teachers generally supported the use of the scatter plot as a means of assessing student behavior. Possible reasons for failing to attain an IOA of 90% or higher include the total number of students in a class, the number of subjects observed per period, the teacher's location in the classroom, and the subjects ability to recognize if the teacher was "looking." Recommendations are provided regarding future research concerning the scatter plot and …

The purpose of this study was to develop and evaluate a measurement model for Internet information retrieval strategy performance evaluation whose theoretical basis is a modification of the classical measurement model embodied in the Cranfield studies and their progeny. Though not the first, the Cranfield studies were the most influential of the early evaluation experiments. The general problem with this model was and continues to be the subjectivity of the concept of relevance. In cyberspace, information scientists are using quantitative measurement models for evaluating information retrieval performance that are based on the Cranfield model. This research modified this model by incorporating enduser relevance judgment rather than using objective relevance judgments, and by adopting a fundamental unit of measure developed for the cyberspace of Internet information retrieval rather than using recall and precision-type measures. The proposed measure, the Content-bearing Click (CBC) Ratio, was developed as a quantitative measure reflecting the performance of an Internet IR strategy. Since the hypertext "click" is common to many Internet IR strategies, it was chosen as the fundamental unit of measure rather than the "document." The CBC Ratio is a ratio of hypertext click counts that can be viewed as a false drop measure that determines …

The six-movement work is scored for two violins, a viola, and a violoncello. A new approach toward the decision making of the compositional process is revealed which structures the parameters of the composition along an arbitrary frame of reference. This reference is selected prior to composition and influences every aspect of the work. The reference chosen is an existing musical work used in quotation and for stylistic modeling, paraphrase, and variation. Consonance, dissonance, and thematic development are defined in terms of this source.

What Spins Away is a novel about a man named Caleb who, in the process, of searching for a brother who has been missing for ten years, discovers that his inability to commit to a job or his primary relationships is both the result of his history with that older missing brother, and his own misconceptions about the meaning of that history. On a formal level, the novel explores the ability of traditional narrative structures to carry postmodern themes. The theme, in this case, is the struggle for a stable identity when there is no stable community against which or in relationship to an identity might be defined.

This follows an earlier study of the same data set, which, through its findings, presented new questions that are investigated in this study. Both studies used a prospective controlled design, wherein women receiving genetic counseling for breast cancer risk were randomized into two groups. Subjects receiving an audiotaped recording of their genetic consultation (tape group) were compared to subjects who also had a genetic consultation but did not receive an audiotaped recording of it (no-tape group). Participants were drawn from attendees at the genetic clinics of two London hospitals and included 115 women with a family history of breast cancer. Cancer worry and psychological distress were assessed before genetic consultation (baseline), and at one- and six-month follow-ups by post. Objective risk was estimated by the geneticist during the consultation, and subjective risk was assessed at one month follow-up. The goals of the current study were to investigate relationships between cancer worry, psychological distress, and recall of genetic risk for breast cancer in a sample of women receiving genetic counseling for breast cancer risk, and to investigate the role sociodemographic variables on cancer worry, psychological distress, or risk recall for these women. Results for this sample of women with a family …