Sabina Berman: Brief overview

Privilege, by Yvonne Rainer, 1991.¹

Bitch! Dyke! Faghag! Whore! Parti. (The Sex Show). Createdand performed by Penny Arcade. Presented by Theater for the New City, New York, October 13, 1990.

Daytrips. The Women's Project. Voyage to Lesbos. WOW Cafe. Hamlet. Barnard College. November, 1990.

Excerpts from the Attorney General's Report on Pornography ‐A Hard Place Theatre production. The Playground Theatre, New York City, January 10–20, 1990.

We Keep Our Victims Ready. Written, performed, and directed by Karen Finley. The Joyce Theater, New York City. September 18–22, 1990.

“Find Out Who Killed Laura Palmer” Episode of TwinPeaks, television series, directed by David Lynch. ABC.

World Without End. By Holly Hughes. P.S. 122, New York City, October, 1990.     

Thinking land law differently: Section 70(1)(g) and the giving of meanings

Elements of this article first appeared in a paper given at the Hart Conference on Property, 1993.     

The Skinny on Body Dissatisfaction: A Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Girls and Boys

The present study tested whether theoretically derived risk factors predicted increases in body dissatisfaction and whether gender moderated these relations with data from a longitudinal study of 428 adolescent girls and boys because few prospective studies have examined these aims, despite evidence that body dissatisfaction increases risk for various psychiatric disturbances. Body dissatisfaction showed significant increases for girls and significant decreases for boys during early adolescence. For both genders, parental support deficits, negative affectivity, and self-reported dietary restraint showed significant relations to future increases in body dissatisfaction. Ideal body internalization and body mass index did not demonstrate significant relations to future increases in body dissatisfaction; peer support deficits showed a marginal relation to this outcome. Gender did not moderate these relations, despite adequate power to detect interactive effects.

The need for some innovative concepts of innovation: An examination of research on the diffusion of innovations

This paper examines research on the diffusion of innovation, the final stage in the process of technological change. The focus rests primarily on two traditions in diffusion research: that of economists and that of sociologists. Diffusion researchers in these and related disciplines have made significant contributions to the understanding of the dynamics of processes of change; yet the state of the art in diffusion research is not equal to the sum of its parts. This is due in large measure to disciplinary parochialism: scholars have concentrated on those innovations, diffusion environments, explanatory variables, and analytical methodologies which are most compatible with their particular disciplines, despite the fact that diffusion is not a discipline-specific phenomenon. Deficiencies in current understanding of diffusion are examined in the context of this and other significant problems. The paper concludes by considering the policy relevance of diffusion research and suggesting issues with which future research might productively be concerned.The following individuals have been most helpful in stimulating and directing my interest in this subject and in criticizing this paper: Richard R. Nelson of Yale University and the following members of the Faculty Seminar on Innovation and Social Change, Institute of Public Policy Studies, University of Michigan: Michael Moch, Lawrence Mohr, Everett Rogers, Herbert Schuette, Jack Walker, and Sidney Winter.     

Evaluation of sieving polymers for fast, reproducible electrophoretic analysis of short tandem repeats (STR) in capillaries

Efficient capillary electrophoretic STR analysis requires rapid, reproducible and robust separation of DNA fragments with reasonable capillary longevity--this is currently accomplished using proprietary commercial polymeric sieving matrices specifically developed for this separation. These matrices, while effective, are costly and do not provide adequate resolution of STR DNA fragments in capillaries with shorter effective separation lengths, increasing the time required to accomplish the separation and minimizing the potential extrapolation to other miniaturized platforms. As the forensic community looks toward next generation microchip technology as a means of processing casework more rapidly, new sieving polymers need to be evaluated for utilization in this platform. The research presented here describes the assessment of commercially-available polymeric sieving matrices for STR analysis, with consideration given to feasibility of incorporation into a microdevice. Polymer composition, molecular weight, and concentration were evaluated, along with an assessment of the effects of buffer composition, separation temperature, and capillary length. These variables were evaluated individually or collectively on the ability to resolve STR DNA fragments and the reproducibility of the separations and the results compared to a proprietary commercial product. A 600,000 Da MW poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) solution at a 3% (w/v) concentration was determined to be the most suitable matrix for these separations. This polymer, in coated capillaries, provided highly robust and reproducible separations, with near baseline resolution of fragments having single base differences. Reductions in the temperature of the separation, from 60 degrees C to 40 degrees C, and the urea concentration of the buffer, from 7 M to 3.5 M, provided increased longevity of the PEO polymer for repeated separations. Comparison of this polymer with currently specified commercial products used for STR analysis showed that the optimized PEO matrix provided superior separations under all conditions tested. In addition, PEO could be utilized in shorter capillary systems, with a concurrent decrease in analysis time, highlighting its potential for use in shortened capillary or microdevice systems.