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This retrospective study examines the changing theological and political perspectives of the Tabor College Class of 1967 from when they entered Tabor, to when they finished college, to now, some fifty years later. Nearly all participants viewed themselves as theologically and politically conservative when they began college, shifted toward the center during college, and. depending on the choices they subsequently made, moved in two different directions. Those who lived overseas, earned graduate degrees, got their news from multiple sources, and entered alternative service rather than the military generally became more liberal. The opposite is also true: those who did not live overseas or earn graduate degrees, those who got their news from a single source, and those who entered the military generally became more conservative. Though theologically and politically divided nearly all in the Class of'67 have retained their faith and are part of local churches today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The reproducibility of experimental outcomes depends on consistent control of independent variables. In food-maintained operant performance, it is of utmost importance that the quantity of food delivered is reliable. To that end, some commercial food pellet dispensers have add-on attachments to sense the delivery of pellets. Not all companies, however, offer such add-ons. Aside from availability, cost and temporary reduction in throughput may be a problem for smaller labs. The present paper outlines our recent development of a simple, inexpensive infrared device to detect and confirm the delivery of pellets. The in-line construction of the detector routes the falling pellet through a barrel so that is passes between an infrared emitter and receiver. The circuitry was designed to be compatible with all commercially available behavioral measurement systems, and so may be retrofit to any existing system. Our tests with the detector so far have shown that it is 100% accurate in detecting pellet delivery. The individual unit cost is approximately 25 dollars. The low cost and versatility of the device offer an easy method to ensure the integrity of food delivery in operant settings. (Contains 3 figures and 1 footnote.)

A new electrode configuration for microchip capillary electrophoresis (CE) with electrochemical (EC) detection is described. This approach makes it possible to place the working electrode directly in the separation channel. The 'in-channel' EC detection was accomplished without the use of a decoupler through the utilization of a specially designed, electrically isolated potentiostat. The effect of the working electrode position on the separation performance (in terms of plate height and peak skew) of poly(dimethylsiloxane)-based microchip CEEC devices was evaluated by comparing the more commonly used end-channel configuration with this new in-channel approach. Using catechol as the test analyte, it was found that in-channel EC detection decreased the total plate height by a factor of 4.6 and lowered the peak skew by a factor of 1.3. A similar trend was observed for the small, inorganic ion nitrite. Furthermore, a fluorescent and electrochemically active amino acid derivative was used to directly compare the separation performance of in-channel EC detection to that of a widely used laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) detection scheme. In this case, it was found that the plate height and peak skew for both detection schemes were essentially equal, and the separation performance of in-channel EC detection is comparable to LIF detection.

The merits of an inexpensive infrared detector developed to verify the delivery of food pellets in food-maintained operant settings are discussed. Tests suggest that the infrared device is perfectly accurate in detecting and confirming pellet delivery.

We have developed a pump-probe picosecond spectrometer capable of time-resolved studies spanning nine decades in time, from the picosecond to the millisecond regimes. The system operates at repetition rates up to 2 kHz with ∼40-ps time resolution. Pump and probe beam average powers are ∼10 mW. The system is capable of studies of molecular dynamics in complex systems such as proteins, where internal motions span a wide range of time scales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]