Sixteen paintings

To understand these thesis paintings I have completed in the past two years, one must realize from the beginning that the greatest decision I made over that entire period was the decision to allow the paint to suggest to me in as strong a way as possible the direction in which I should go. With five years of hard edge black and white abstractions in my immediate past, I found it almost impossible to break away slowly from the arena of precision painting in which I had existed. At first it was an all or nothing decision: composition, reason, integrity all were sacrificed for the freedom of the paint. After months of this wandering around after the brush, I began to study the individual stroke, then whole passages and how they connected. Eventually I began to attempt the solution of a problem I had set for myself: to create some sort of pathos within a controlled space. The edge of the painting was an insufficient boundary for this pathos, so an artificial enclosure was simulated within the actual work. Elements of cubism began to appear in the construction of this edge and they were maintained. In the beginning, abstract free forms had served to represent the mood but after a period of months, human forms and room paraphernalia began to appear. Regardless of how I came to paint interiors, they did evolve without any serious deliberation. The boundary element became either a section of a wall or a window; in other cases, it became the rungs on a bed post or some other partition in the painting

The effects of intertarget-interval certainty and length on autonomic and cortical reactivity in type A and type B males

The purpose of this study was to examine the psychophysiological effects of waiting and uncertainty in young Type A and Type B males. It was hypothesized that Type subjects would exhibit greater sympathetically medicated cardiovascular changes (as measured by pulse transit time) than Type B subjects on a reaction time task where the intertarget interval (ITI) was relatively long as opposed to short, and when the ITI was uncertain or unpredictable. The prediction on ITI length was based on the notion that Type A subjects have a preference for a more rapid pacing of activities. It was also hypothesized that Type A subjects would evidence greater cortical reactivity when target stimulus occurrence was uncertain or unpredictable. The combination of relatively long and uncertain ITIs was also expected to enhance cardiovascular and cortical responses in Type As relative to Bs

Le gai paris and Concerto Pour Trombone by Jean Francaix: an analysis and discussion of two works for solo instrument with wind ensemble accompaniment

The purpose of this research is to provide an in-depth examination of the compositional approaches, techniques and style presented in Le gai paris and Concerto pour trombone by Jean Francaix and to create awareness of the composer's solo works with wind ensemble accompaniment. To accomplish this purpose, this document examines the details of Francaix' training and career as a musician and composer provided through existing publications and online sources, researches existing historical information, and performs musical analysis of Le gai paris and Concerto pour trombone to give insight into the compositional techniques of Jean Francaix. General information is provided about the other solo works of Jean Francaix with wind ensemble accompaniment including recorded comments by the composer

Specific recognition of non-denatured nitrite-oxidizing system ofNitrospira moscoviensis by monoclonal antibody Hyb 153-3

The objective of this research project is to develop a rapid molecular method for monitoring nitrification in a wastewater reactor. In the developed method, a monoclonal antibody (Hyb 153-3) was used because it can specifically recognize non-denatured enzymes responsible for nitrite oxidation in Nitrobacter and Nitrospira. The recognition of these enzymes under non-denatured conditions can significantly simplify the procedures of future immunoassays for environmental samples collected from various natural and engineered systems. This paper presents the ability of the selected Hyb 153-3 antibody to recognize the non-denatured form of the nitrite-oxidizing enzyme of Nitrospira in an aqueous phase as well as when the enzyme has been immobilized on a solid surface. Copyright © 2005 Society of Chemical Industr

Base-specific fragmentation of amplified 16S rRNA genes and mass spectrometry analysis: A novel tool for rapid bacterial identification.

A rapid approach to the 16S rRNA gene (16S rDNA)-based bacterial identification has been developed that combines uracil-DNA-glycosylase (UDG)-mediated base-specific fragmentation of PCR products with matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS). 16S rDNA signature sequences were PCR-amplified from both cultured and as-yet-uncultured bacteria in the presence of dUTP instead of dTTP. These PCR products then were immobilized onto a streptavidin-coated solid support to selectively generate either sense or antisense templates. Single-stranded amplicons were subsequently treated with uracil-DNA-glycosylase to generate T-specific abasic sites and fragmented by alkaline treatment. The resulting fragment patterns were analyzed by MALDI-TOF MS. Mass signals of 16S rDNA fragments were compared with patterns calculated from published 16S rDNA sequences. MS of base-specific fragments of amplified 16S rDNA allows reliable discrimination of sequences differing by only one nucleotide. This approach is fast and has the potential for high-throughput identification as required in clinical, pharmaceutical, or environmental microbiology. In contrast to identification by MS of intact whole bacterial cells, this technique allows for the characterization of both cultured and as-yet-uncultured bacteria

A simple approach for evaluating total MicroRNA extraction from mouse brain tissues

For the analysis of microRNA, a common approach is to first extract microRNA from cellular samples prior to any specific microRNA detection. Thus, it is important to determine the quality and yield of extracted microRNA. In this study, solid-phase extraction was used to isolate small RNA (<200 nt), which included microRNA, from mouse brain tissues. By using standard UV absorbance measurements, the amount of small RNA in the extracted RNA samples was determined. To determine the presence of microRNA, each RNA sample was analyzed by PAGE with SYBR[R] Green II staining. Testing for contamination of any small DNA fragments, RNase and cellular peptides or proteins were systematically carried out. By scanning the gel image obtained from PAGE analysis, the average percentage of total microRNA (19-25 nt) in the extracted RNA samples was determined to be equal to 2.3% [+ or -] 0.5%. The yield of total microRNA was calculated to be ~0.5 ng of microRNA per milligram of frozen mouse brain tissue. In comparison to other methods that require the use of expensive specialized instrumentation, the approach of combining the standard UV absorbance and PAGE analysis represents a simple and viable method for evaluating the quality and yield of microRNA extraction from tissue samples

Cohort work values of employed men and women

The purpose of this study was to determine the differences in work values of employees. The major purpose was to determine (a) age group differences in work values and (b) the predictors of work values as measured by Super's Work Values Inventory (WVI) (1970). Predictor variables, other than age, were sex, education, race, marital status, job type, and number of children. Of the 400 employees randomly selected from a southeastern regional bank, 265 employees returned the questionnaire. Overall, Achievement, Supervisory Relations, Way of Life, Economic Returns, and Security were the most important work values. A t-test (p <.05) showed significant between-group differences in total WVI scores with the young group (born 1960 to present) having higher scores than the older group (born on or before 1943), An analysis of variance also showed significant differences between the young and older groups on five of the 15 subscales of the WVI. Prestige, Economic Returns, Associates, Variety, and Way of Life were more important to the younger group than to the older group. The Baby Boomer (born 1944 - 1959) group also valued Variety more than the older group