An evaluation of individual instruction in beginning reading.

Thesis (M.A.)--Boston Universit

A study of the relationship of death anxiety to openness toward change and sense of well-being

Several writers have suggested a similarity between the loss process experienced by the dying person and the loss process experienced by individuals making changes in their lives. This concept has been incorporated into several areas of therapy yet little research has been done to substantiate the idea. A sense of well-being has also been suggested as important within the Existential concept that death resolution enhances mental health and functioning. This study explores the possible relationship between death attitudes and both openness to change and sense of well-being. Three hypotheses were investigated: (1) there is an inverse relationship between death anxiety and measures of openness to change, (2) there is an inverse relationship between death anxiety and measures of a sense of well-being and (3) there is a positive inter-relationship between measures of openness to change and measures of a sense of well-being.;To test these hypotheses, a variety of scales considered representative of openness to change and a sense of well-being were extracted from three instruments; the California Psychological Inventory, the Adjective Check List and the Edwards Personal Preference Schedule. The Templer Death Anxiety Scale was used to measure death attitudes.;The scales were randomly combined into a single instrument and administered to 191 adult individuals from five diverse occupational and age groups. These groups were chosen for the purpose of gaining heterogeneity within the total sample measured. Participation was voluntary and subjects were naive as to the specific variables being measured. Statistical analysis consisted of subjecting the hypotheses to a Pearson Product-Moment correlation.;Results for the total sample (N = 191) indicated that: (1) There was no relationship between death anxiety and measure of openness to change except for the n Change Scale from the Edwards Personal Preference Schedule. Significance was obtained between this scale and death anxiety in an inverse direction. (2) There was a significant inverse relationship between death anxiety and measures of a sense of well-being. (3) There was a significant positive interrelationship between 14 of the 15 scales used to measure openness to change and sense of well-being.;Results for each of the five groups were also evaluated and included in the discussion. Directions for future research were suggested

Daytime temperature is sensed by phytochrome B in Arabidopsis through a transcriptional activator HEMERA.

Ambient temperature sensing by phytochrome B (PHYB) in Arabidopsis is thought to operate mainly at night. Here we show that PHYB plays an equally critical role in temperature sensing during the daytime. In daytime thermosensing, PHYB signals primarily through the temperature-responsive transcriptional regulator PIF4, which requires the transcriptional activator HEMERA (HMR). HMR does not regulate PIF4 transcription, instead, it interacts directly with PIF4, to activate the thermoresponsive growth-relevant genes and promote warm-temperature-dependent PIF4 accumulation. A missense allele hmr-22, which carries a loss-of-function D516N mutation in HMR's transcriptional activation domain, fails to induce the thermoresponsive genes and PIF4 accumulation. Both defects of hmr-22 could be rescued by expressing a HMR22 mutant protein fused with the transcriptional activation domain of VP16, suggesting a causal relationship between HMR-mediated activation of PIF4 target-genes and PIF4 accumulation. Together, this study reveals a daytime PHYB-mediated thermosensing mechanism, in which HMR acts as a necessary activator for PIF4-dependent induction of temperature-responsive genes and PIF4 accumulation

Exploratory studies to inform full-scale evaluations of complex public health interventions: the need for guidance

No abstract available