Periodic supplement for "the regular journals of the American Chemical Society," containing annotated bibliographies of chemical documentation literature as well as information about meetings, conferences, awards, scholarships, and other news from the American Chemical Society (ACS) Division of Chemical Literature.

Periodic supplement for "the regular journals of the American Chemical Society," containing annotated bibliographies of chemical documentation literature as well as information about meetings, conferences, awards, scholarships, and other news from the American Chemical Society (ACS) Division of Chemical Literature.

This research study investigated the effectiveness of child-centered group play therapy with children experiencing adjustment difficulties. Specifically, this study determined the effectiveness of child-centered group play therapy in: (a) improving self-concept, (b) reducing externalizing, internalizing, and overall behavior problems, (c) enhancing emotional and behavioral adjustment to the school environment, and (d) increasing self-control of kindergarten children experiencing adjustment difficulties. Also investigated were child-centered group play therapy effects on reducing parenting stress of the parents of kindergarten children experiencing adjustment difficulties. The experimental group consisted of 15 kindergarten children who received one 40-minute child-centered group play therapy session per week, for twelve weeks. Group facilitators were play therapists who were doctoral students at the University of North Texas. The control group consisted of the 14 kindergarten students that had been assigned to the control group in Baggerly's (1999) study. Before the group play therapy sessions began and after termination of the sessions: the researchers administered the Joseph Pre-School and Primary Self-Concept Screening Test; parents completed the Child Behavior Checklist-Parent Report, Self-Control Rating Scale, Filial Problem Checklist, and Parenting Stress Index; and teachers completed the Child Behavior Checklist-Teacher Report, Early Childhood Behavior Scale, and Self-Control Rating Scale. Although the general results of …

The report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change of 1995 has been taken as a starting point. Since 1995 many new observations and reports have become available. Much of the information on observations and studies on climate change and its impacts can be found through the Internet. Where possible we have made references, such that the reader can easily verify and review our sources. This study addresses three main questions: To what extent can the human influence on the climate system presently be measured? What can we expect for the short term and long-term future? To what extent will measures to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions affect the future climate?

This assessment examines how global climate climate change affects the United States, and describes strategies for adaptation.

This document discusses climatic trends in Alaska and how changes in weather and climate are affecting plant and animal populations, other geographic and environmental factors, and the socio-economic impacts on the region.

This report models the ability of low-carbon industries to grow and transform within a market economy. It finds that runaway climate change is almost inevitable without specific action to implement low-carbon re-industrialization over the next five years. The point of no return is estimated to be 2014.

By allowing judgments based on a small number of exemplar documents to be applied to a larger number of unexamined documents, clustered presentation of search results represents an intuitively attractive possibility for reducing the cognitive resource demands on human users of information retrieval systems. However, clustered presentation of search results is sensible only to the extent that naturally occurring similarity relationships among documents correspond to topically coherent clusters. The Cluster Hypothesis posits just such a systematic relationship between document similarity and topical relevance. To date, experimental validation of the Cluster Hypothesis has proved problematic, with collection-specific results both supporting and failing to support this fundamental theoretical postulate. The present study consists of two computational information visualization experiments, representing a two-tiered test of the Cluster Hypothesis under adverse conditions. Both experiments rely on multidimensionally scaled representations of interdocument similarity matrices. Experiment 1 is a term-reduction condition, in which descriptive titles are extracted from Associated Press news stories drawn from the TREC information retrieval test collection. The clustering behavior of these titles is compared to the behavior of the corresponding full text via statistical analysis of the visual characteristics of a two-dimensional similarity map. Experiment 2 is a dimensionality reduction condition, in …

Workplace stress has been found to be a causal agent of psychological distress consequences in employees. Chronic stressors have been well researched, in particular, role conflict, role ambiguity, and work overload have been extensively studied. A meta-analysis was conducted in order to aggregate past research to gain a better understanding of the impact these stressors have on the psychological distress consequences of depression, tension/anxiety, somatic complaints, and generalized feelings of stress. Only role ambiguity was found to be a significant contributor to psychological distress, in particular to feelings of depression and stress. In general, however, effect sizes for all three stressors were moderate to large. While chronic stressors have been well researched, acute stressors have been widely overlooked. Since research in this area is limited, the Daily Work Hassles Survey was developed and validated in order to analyze the role daily hassles play in the workplace. The survey yielded two factors, Interpersonal Hassles and Task Hassles. The former of which was found to be significantly related to the distress consequences of depression, tension/anxiety, somatic complaints, and general feelings of stress. The ultimate goal of this project was to compare chronic and acute stressors. Results from the daily hassles study were …

The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of Intensive Filial Therapy in: (a) improving the self-concept of child witnesses of domestic violence; (b) reducing internalizing behavior problems, such as withdrawal, somatic complaints, anxiety and depression, of child witnesses of domestic violence; (c) reducing externalizing behavior problems, such as aggression and delinquency, of child witnesses of domestic violence; (d) reducing overall behavior problems of child witnesses of domestic violence; and (e) increasing communication of empathy between mothers and child witnesses of domestic violence. A second objective of this study was to compare the effectiveness of Intensive Filial Therapy with Intensive Individual Play Therapy and Intensive Sibling Group Play Therapy with child witnesses of domestic violence. The experimental group consisted of 11 child witnesses of domestic violence whose mothers received 12 Intensive Filial Therapy training sessions within a three week period and had 12 mother-child play sessions. The Intensive Individual Play Therapy comparison group, consisting of 11 child witnesses, and the non-treatment control group, consisting of 11 child witnesses, were utilized from the Kot (1995) study. The Intensive Sibling Group Play Therapy comparison group was utilized from the Tyndall-Lind (1999) study. Children in all studies completed the Joseph Preschool …

This study tested the relationship between Social Support, Psychological Distress, and Illness Stress in individuals who report cancer as a health condition. This study was based on archival data obtained from the Wave 1 of the Health and Retirement Study (HRS). The HRS provides a nationally representative sample of individuals aged 51 to 61 in 1992 and their spouses. The study sample was limited to cancer patients with a spouse or partner (n = 503). A structural equation modeling analysis procedure was used to test the theoretical models. Measures of social support were limited to variables assessing the participant's satisfaction with social support. Evidence was found for the Stress Prevention and the Support Deterioration models. This is congruent with previous research using measures of social support perception. Both the Stress Prevention and the Support Deterioration models predict a negative relationship between Illness Stress and Social Support. In addition, a univariate analysis of variance was used to test the stress buffering model. Similarly to other studies measuring the individual's degree of integration, or its perception, in the social network, the present research supported the only the Main Effect model and not the Stress Buffering model.

The study focused on the academic programs offered for telecommunications technicians provided by 16 two-year and four-year higher education institutions and the ways in which the programs compared to the established telecommunications technicians' skill standards. Six specific research questions concerned the training programs for telecommunications technicians. The first verified the validity of the information in Peterson's 2000: 2 Year Colleges and Peterson's 2000: 4 Year Colleges identifying the institutions offering a communication equipment technology major. The second question focused on the institutions that included telecommunications as part of the curriculum. The third identified the importance of the skill standards to the 2-year and 4-year training programs, and the fourth identified the job functions that were included in or excluded from the training. The fifth question identified the job tasks that were included in or excluded from the training. The final question determined whether the 2-year or the 4-year telecommunications technicians' training program was more closely aligned with the skill standards. In order to accomplish the objectives of this research, a survey methodology was selected. The survey instrument was developed to compare the importance of the telecommunications technicians' skill standards to the 2-year and the 4-year training programs. The skill standards …

This study evaluated 227 students attending 12 classes of the Apprentice Medical Services Specialist Resident Course. Six classes containing a total of 109 students took the Block One Tests in the traditional paper and pencil form. Another six classes containing a total of 118 students took the same Block One Tests on computers. A confidence level of .99 and level of signifi­cance of .01 was established. An independent samples t-test was conducted on the sample. Additionally, a one-way analysis of variance was performed between the classes administered the Block One Tests on computers. Several other frequencies and comparisons of Block One Test scores and other variables were accomplished. The variables examined included test versions, shifts, student age, student source, and education levels. The study found no significant difference between test administration modes. This study concluded that computer-administering tests identical to those typically administered in the traditional paper and pencil manner had no significant effect on achievement. It is important to note, however, that the conclusion may only be valid if the computer-administered test contains exactly the same test items, in the same order and format, with the same layout, structure, and choices as the traditional paper and pencil test. In …

Article comparing the visions of six young people in the village of Medjugorje, Croatia, with those of near-death experiencers.

Are there differences in leadership styles among occupational therapy clinic administrators and program directors in professional and technical education programs? This study investigated transformational and transactional leadership behaviors and effectiveness as measured by the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) Form 5x-Short behaviors and demographic characteristics of leaders and their organizations using a questionnaire designed by the researcher. MLQ Leader Forms were received from 50 clinic administrators randomly selected from the membership list of the Administration and Management Special Interest Section (AMSIS) of the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA), 56 professional program directors, and 41 technical program directors from accredited occupational therapy education programs in the United States, for a total of 147 leader respondents. Rater forms were received from 2 to 5 occupational therapy staff or faculty per leader and average scores calculated. More than 86% of leader respondents were female and white. Major findings indicate that administrative positions indifferent institutional contexts relate to leadership behaviors and effectiveness. Technical education program directors and clinic administrators scored higher on transformational behaviors and effectiveness than professional education program directors. Consistent with other research on leadership, the self-ratings of leaders were higher than ratings of subordinates. The data indicated statistically significant positive correlations between …

This study was designed to determine the effectiveness of individual child-centered play therapy in the elementary school in: 1) enhancing the self-concept of kindergarten children who are experiencing adjustment difficulties; 2) decreasing the overall behavioral problems of kindergarten children experiencing adjustment difficulties 3) decreasing externalizing behavior problems such as aggression and delinquency of kindergarten children experiencing adjustment difficulties; 4) decreasing the internalizing behavior problems such as withdrawal, somatic complaints, anxiety and depression of kindergarten children experiencing adjustment difficulties; 5) increasing parental perception of change in the problematic behaviors of kindergarten children experiencing adjustment difficulties; and 6) enhancing self-control in kindergarten children experiencing adjustment difficulties. A secondary objective was to compare the participants involved in individual child-centered play therapy with participants in a previous study who were involved in child-centered group play therapy on the above named dimensions. The experimental group, consisting of 14 kindergarten children experiencing adjustment difficulties, received 10-12, 30-minute individual play therapy sessions in a 12 week period in their elementary school. The comparison group, utilized from the 1999 McGuire study, consisted of 15 children with adjustment problems and received 12-14, 45-minute group play therapy sessions in 14 weeks in their elementary school. The control group, consisting of …

The Wide Range Assessment of Memory and Learning (WRAML) is a relatively new instrument used in the assessment of memory in children. The purpose of this study was to examine the validity of the WRAML by comparing the performance of children on both the WRAML and the Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Cognitive Ability- Revised (WJTCA-R). Subjects for the study were children in treatment for a brain tumor at a regional children's medical center. Fifty children participated in the study ranging from ages 6 to 17. A multiple regression analysis was conducted to determine which of four selected clusters from the WJTCA-R would have the highest correlation with the Verbal Memory Index (VERI) from the WRAML. The Short-Term Memory (GSM) cluster had the highest correlation ( r = .82) as predicted. A Pearson's product-moment correlational analysis was conducted between the Visual Processing (GV) cluster from the WJTCA-R and the Visual Memory Index (VISI) from the WRAML. GV was found to have a high positive correlation ( r = .63) with VISI. A similar analysis was conducted between the Long-Term Retrieval (GLR) cluster from the WJTCA-R and the Learning Index (LRNI) from the WRAML. GLR was found to have a high positive correlation …

The purpose of this study was to confirm the original factor structure of the Wide Range Assessment of Memory and Learning (WRAML) utilizing a non-clinical adolescent population. Additional analysis examined the relationship between SAT-M scores and spatial relations ability. Exploratory analyses were conducted to determine ethnic and gender differences on the WRAML and subtests from the DAT. Sixty-four academically talented adolescents completed the WRAML and the mechanical reasoning and spatial relations subtests from the Differential Aptitude Test (DAT). The confirmatory factor analysis found the data obtained to not be a good fit for the factor structure of the WRAML (Sheslow & Adams, 1990). Additional confirmatory analyses were conducted which examined data fit of a three factor model found by reanalyzing the standardization data (Burton et al., 1996; Wasserman & Cambias, 1991) as well as two null models. The data failed to fit any of these three models. No support was found for the second hypothesis that predicted a positive relationship between SAT-M scores and spatial relations ability. Ethnic and gender differences on the WRAML and two DAT subtests were examined and discussed. Limitations of this study were reviewed which may have accounted for the overall lack of results.

Resonance energy transfer was employed to study the conformational changes of actomyosin during ATP hydrolysis. To calibrate the technique, the parameters for resonance energy transfer were defined. With conformational searching algorithms to predict probe orientation, the distances measured by resonance energy transfer are highly consistent with the atomic models, which verified the accuracy and feasibility of resonance energy transfer for structural studies of proteins and oligonucleotides. To study intramyosin distances, resonance energy transfer probes were attached to skeletal myosin's nucleotide site, subfragment-2, and regulatory light chain to examine nucleotide analog-induced structural transitions. The distances between the three positions were measured in the presence of different nucleotide analogs. No distance change was considered to be statistically significant. The measured distance between the regulatory light chain and nucleotide site was consistent with either the atomic model of skeletal myosin subfragment-1 or an average of the three models claimed for different ATP hydrolysis states, which suggested that the neck region was flexible in solution. To examine the participation of actin in the powerstroke process, resonance energy transfer between different sites on actin and myosin was measured in the presence of nucleotide analogs. The efficiencies of energy transfer between myosin catalytic domain and actin …

This study examined consumer attitude towards adding branded quick-service items on domestic airline in-flight menus with the aim of assessing the variables of perceived customer value and customer satisfaction. A random sample of one hundred sixteen frequent flyers residing in the United States participated in the study. An examination of consumer attitude towards branded quick-service menu items if introduced on domestic in-flight menus was performed. Multiple regression analysis was used to determine which of the four relationships was the most significant. The results showed that frequent flyer satisfaction with branded quick-service food items had the most significant relationship with perceived satisfaction of adding branded quick-service foods to coach class in-flight meal service.

This study investigates the consumers' intention towards Internet shopping. The Theory of Planned Behavior is used to predict behavioral intention (BI), which is a function of attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control (PBC). The effects of demographic and personal variables on BI are also examined. Data analysis (n = 303) indicates that attitude, subjective norm, perceptions of behavioral controls, and previous purchases are significant predictors of behavioral intention. Product/Convenience, Customer Service (attitude factors), Purchase and Delivery, Promotional Offers, Product Attribute (factors of PBC), subjective norm, hours spent online, money spent online, and previous purchases discriminate respondents of high BI from low BI. Behavioral intention of shopping online is highest for Specialty Products followed by Personal, Information Intensive, and Household Products.

In 1997, NLNAC added critical thinking as a required outcome for accreditation of associate degree nursing (ADN) programs. Until recently general critical thinking tests were the only available standardized critical thinking assessment tools. The emphasis has shifted to discipline specific tools. This concurrent validity study explored the correlation between two critical thinking tests, a general skills test, the California Critical Thinking Skills Test (CCTST) and a discipline specific test, the Arnett Critical Thinking Outcome Evaluation (CTOE). Both tests are based on the same definition of critical thinking. The CCTST, developed in 1990, covers discipline neutral content in multiple choice items. The CTOE, a free entry, written response test developed in 1998, assesses critical thinking in nursing situations using a partial credit model. A convenience sample of 434 sophomore ADN students from 9 programs in Texas completed the demographic survey and critical thinking tests in 1999. The sample was 87.9% female and 74.2% Caucasian, with a mean age of 31, mean GPA of 3.13, mean 3.7 years healthcare employment experience, mean CCTST score of 15.0023 and mean CTOE of 82.69. The sample also included 22.4% current LVNs, 15.7% with prior degrees and 53.5% in the first generation of their family to …

This thesis investigates how hegemonic white masculinity adopts a new mode of material accumulation by entering into an ambivalent existence as a historical agent and metahistory at the same time and continues to function as a performative identity that offers a point of identification for the working class white man suggesting that bourgeois identity is obtainable through the performance of bourgeois ethics. The thesis postulates that the phenomenal transitions brought on by industrialization and deindustrialization of 50's through 90's coincide with the representational changes of white masculinity from paradigmatic cowboy incarnations to the postmodern action heroes, specifically as embodied by Bruce Willis. The thesis also examines how postmodern heroes' "intero-alterity" is further problematized by antiheroes in Tim Burton's films.

This dissertation creates an information agent that correctly identifies Web pages containing scholarly research approximately 96% of the time. It does this by analyzing the Web page with a set of criteria, and then uses a classification tree to arrive at a decision. The criteria were gathered from the literature on selecting print and electronic materials for academic libraries. A Delphi study was done with an international panel of librarians to expand and refine the criteria until a list of 41 operationalizable criteria was agreed upon. A Perl program was then designed to analyze a Web page and determine a numerical value for each criterion. A large collection of Web pages was gathered comprising 5,000 pages that contain the full work of scholarly research and 5,000 random pages, representative of user searches, which do not contain scholarly research. Datasets were built by running the Perl program on these Web pages. The datasets were split into model building and testing sets. Data mining was then used to create different classification models. Four techniques were used: logistic regression, nonparametric discriminant analysis, classification trees, and neural networks. The models were created with the model datasets and then tested against the test dataset. Precision …