A Production Notebook For Paul Foster\u27s Tom Paine

The analysis guide for Tom Paine will be taken from Frank McMullan\u27s The Directional Image. McMullan\u27s analysis form is divided into two sections, Nature and Pattern of Drama and Potentials of Dramatic Values. Nature and Pattern of Drama, is concerned with basic essentials of drama, including structure, compulsion, motivation, causal progression, unity, and texture. All of these concepts are directly concerned with the qualities that make drama unique. In Potentials of Dramatic Values, the investigation turns away from the structural elements of the play, and shifts its focus to the specific elements that create the emotional climate of the play. The main elements considered here are mood, character, plot, dialogue, and theme. This play is a tragicomedy. In Tom Paine, tragic and comic elements are juxtaposed, and at times fused together to provide an underlying serious comment about outrageous injustice. Fusion of the tragic with the farcical also brings grotesque and distorted overtones to the characters and events. The concept of this production is a good one. The primary problem with it is in regard to the methods of communicating that concept to the audience

Facilitation At Neuromuscular Junctions in Crayfish Deep Abdominal Extensor Muscles

The determination of facilitation in synaptic populations is necessary to gain insight into the mechanism of synaptic transmission and the functional significance of facilitation. Facilitation was investigated in the deep extensor muscles of the crayfish. The posterior branches of the motor nerve to these muscles were stimulated while intracellular recordings were made of the electrical responses of the muscle fibers. The excitatory junction potentials (ejp\u27s) of the muscle fibers of the deep extensor abdominal lateralis (DEAL) were compared to those in the deep extensor abdominal medialis (DEAM). DEAL was more excitable and less facilitating than DEAM. An inverse relationship between facilitation and excitability was proposed. The neuromuscular junctions of the two muscles had significant differences in the means of ejp\u27s at 1 Hz, ejp\u27s at 10 Hz, and indices of facilitation (Fe). Fe decreased with fatigue in experiments where the muscle fibers were stimulated at 10 Hz until the ejp\u27s were one-half the initial amplitude. The 1 Hz ejp\u27s did not decrease proportionally. It was proposed that this result was due to a rate-dependent process in the quantal reoccupation of presynaptic active sites. Fe was determined in DEAM fibers not treated with picrotoxin and compared to Fe in fibers that had been treated with picrotoxin in the previous experiments. On the basis of this comparison it was suggested that the posterior branch of the inhibitory axon reduces 1 Hz ejp\u27s but has little effect on ejp\u27s during 10 Hz stimulating frequencies. The inverse relationship between facilitation and excitability of muscle fibers might explain the functional significance of different degrees of facilitation. It was proposed that factors responsible for the rate of quantal reoccupation of presynaptic active sites could determine the facilitory character of synapses

Ecological Factors in the Study of a Small Task Group

In recent years there have been an abundance of small group studies, however there is a great need for the development of a hierarchy of objectives. Attention must be gtiven to what is most important. The present study first surveyed the relevant literature depicting those attempts to bring the small group into focus. As a result of these preliminary investigations, the small group was considered an enacted ecological environment. An attempt was made to formulate an analytical structure for investigating the small task group in terms of its ecology--the pattern and structure of interrelationships. Utilizing four of the White House Tape Transcripts as resource, the Nixon Group--Haldeman, Dean, Ehrlichman and Nixon--was chosen as the group for analysis. A categorical system was developed to provide information from each interaction as to the nature of the content and as to its comment upon the relationship of the participants. Each of the four selected transcripts was divided into dyads based on Weick\u27s act, interact, and double interact. Each dyad was grouped throughout the transcript and the categorical system was applied. Conclusions were largely pointed toward determining whether the group\u27s ecology could be seen as a contributing factor in its outcome--the selective exposure of Watergate information. A number of concerns did appear to precipitate the selective exposure of information. The investigation concluded that the study of ecological factors can be an important key to understanding the group and for bringing small group studies into focus

An EMR Case Study: Two Contrasting Methods of Improving Word Recognition and Comprehension

The purpose of this study was to collect data in order to make a comparison of the better method of teaching vocabulary recognition and comprehension. The comparison was made between a sight whole word method and a phonics method. The alpha level adopted to test the hypothesis was 0.05. The value of the Student-t ratio was 4.65. A statistical table confirmed that a statistically significant ratio would need to be 2.45. 2.45 \u3c 4.65; therefore, the null hypothesis was rejected. The findings led the researcher to conclude that the sight whole word method was superior to the phonics method for the child used in the study

Noncompetitive Effects of Common Milkweed, Asclepias syriaca L., on Germination and Growth of Grain Sorghum

Common milkweed, Asclepias syriaca L., is a wideranging perennial plant native to North America which is a major weed problem of N-central and northeastern United States and Canada. Previous studies in Nebraska have shown a significant reduction in grain sorghum yield and the number of sorghum plants per hectare caused by milkweed infestations (Evetts, 1971; Evetts and Burnside, 1973). Since these reductions were attributed to competitive mechanisms, we were interested in learning if the yield losses could be, at least in part, due to phytotoxins produced by A. syriaca. Aqueous extracts from fresh fieldcollected milkweed leaves inhibited growth of grain sorghum seedlings. Duplicate experiments with three dilutions of milkweed extract showed the reduction in sorghum dry weight to be proportional to the concentration of milkweed extract. Paper chromatograms prepared with aqueous leaf extracts of milkweed and developed in appropriate solvents showed several compounds which were characterized as phenolics. To determine biological activity, two of these unidentified phenolic compounds were tested with germination bioassays using sorghum and radish seeds. Each compound reduced the germination of the test seeds, with the effects varying according to concentration

Automation of Technical Services: Northwestern\u27s Experience

Library automation requires significant adjustments in attitudes and procedures to work effectively. When Northwestern University Library made a commitment to develop computer support of the entire technical processing system, a chain of basic decisions was necessary, each with an individual impact on staff outlook and system productivity. Key decisions involved reassessing manual operations prior to automation; defining resources-human and financial; determining on-line and batch processing requirements, hardware usage, and necessary modifications; considering essential staff reorganization and retraining; and assuring communication. These decisions, the resulting online interactive system, and its impact are described

Teaching Practices in Introductory Physics Courses

The teaching practices of 24 instructors of introductory physics were observed in six colleges and universities. These instructors were asked to indicate their objectives for the course and for the class period visited. The types and purposes of the questions that the instructors asked were determined from audiotape records of 45 class periods. We concluded that the instructors asked questions which on the average required minimum intellectual involvement of the students. We also noted that the instructor\u27s emphasis in his teaching was directed primarily toward the content of physics and far less toward the processes of physics

Hepaticae of the Interior Highlands, North America

Fifty-five genera and 137 species of hepatics have been recorded for the Interior Highlands. One species, Metzgeria crassipilis, and one forma, Marchantia polymorpha f. aquatica, have been added to the flora of the region. An illustrated key to the taxa, a brief habitat summary for each species, a table of distributional data, and a survey of the literature is included

A Design For Garcia Lorca\u27s Yerma: Creative Project

A creative project enables a student to use a particular artistic talent that he has developed to the fullest advantage. In this particular instance it allowed a student who had studied scenic design to design and light a show directed by a faculty member of Southwest Missouri State University. In evaluating the effectiveness of the scenic designs for Yerma, three goals were used as the basis of the evaluation. First, the designer has a responsibility to the playwright; second, a responsibility to provide the actor with a workable playing area; and last, a responsibility to the audience

Effects of Calcium Cyclamate on the Immune Response in Rabbits

Cyclamate was removed from the market as a nonnutritive sweetner in 1969 because rats fed cyclamate developed bladder tumors. Since that time, experimentation has centered around the effects of cyclamate and a major metabolite, cyclohexylamine, on several experimental animal systems. To determine the effect of cyclamate on immune factors in rabbits, one group of rabbits was given a 3 percent water solution of cyclamate, another a 5 percent solution and a third group served as a control and received no cyclamate. After 150 days of receiving cyclamate, the three groups were checked for neoplasia of the urinary bladder, spleen, thymus and lymph node. Each group was checked for the number of white and red blood cells and for cyclamate conversion and excretion in the urine. Finally, the ability to respond immunologically to bovine serum albumin was determined. No neoplasia was noted in histological sections of the tissues examined. The 5 percent group had fewer red blood cells and showed an inability to increase the number of white blood cells after antigenic exposure. Cyclohexylamine concentration in the urine increased and a retarded immune response was also noted. Up to the present the main deliterious effects of cyclamate has been thought to be due to its involvement in tumor production. In the present study cyclamate was shown to retard the immune response even though no tumors were observed. Current cancer research suggests that many tumors might arise as a result of a failure in the immune response. This study further supports this relationship and shows that the immune response is indeed affected even before tumors can be detected. This study suggests that more intense consideration should be given to the effects of carcinogens on the immune response rather than the effects that possibly initiate carcinogenicity