The purpose of this study was to discover what motivational factors are important to contemporary textile handcrafters who continue to produce artifacts similar to those produced by previous generations of women. Thirty-nine women completed questionnaires and 18 women also participated in in-depth interviews. Participation in guild activities and comparison to contemporary and historic literature provided further context for analysis. Three general themes emerged as useful for interpretation of participants' responses. First, participation in various textile handcraft activities provided the women an opportunity to identify their place in the world. Secondly, the production of the items brought meaning to the women. Finally, tangible and intangible benefits were gained from the end products of their labor. These objects are valued by their creators as symbols of self, who feel textile handcrafts are special because they are made with love and are connected to personal histories.

Technology shapes both the meaning of quilts and the process of quilting. By using technology, the quilter molds her art form and ultimately preserves the values that quilting holds. For this study, we sought to investigate the influence of Internet technologies on quilters, using Behuniak-Long’s (1994) framework of the interaction between technology and three key social values (patience, connectedness, and expression). The source of data for this study was an electronic bulletin board that consisted of 1192 messages posted by 52 members of an on-line quilting group. Qualitative analysis of the electronic bulletin board messages was conducted, and findings indicate that quilters have adopted and used technology to enhance their lives without sacrificing social values and are maintaining the integrity of their work. By adopting technology on their own terms, they maintain the social values that quilting represents to them.

Tissue processed for scanning electron microscopy by ethanol-cryofracturing combined with critical point drying was embedded and sectioned for transmission electron microscopy. Study of specimens cut in a plane passing through the fracture edge indicated that preservation of cellular fine structure of fractured cells was excellent. Even at the most peripheral edge of the fracture there was no evidence that movement of cytoplasmic components occurred to distort the original structural organization of fractured cells. Lack of cytoplasmic detail in ethanol-cryofractographs has been due more to the nature of the fracturing of the tissue and to the obscuring effects of the metal coating than to structural deformation at the fracture edge or to limitations in resolving power of the scanning electron microscope used.

The critical point method eliminates distortion that might have been caused by surface tension during drying of specimens being prepared for scanning electron microscopy. Such preparations can be made rapidly and routinely, and the structural fidelity of surfaces of cells and tissues thus prepared is excellent. But attempts to look inside the tissues or cells with the scanning electron microscope have been less successful. Critical point dried tissue can be broken or cut, and the exposed surface viewed. But plastic deformation of the exposed surface structures caused by the cutting or breaking severely limits the usefulness of this approach. Plastic deformation is minimized when tissue is freeze-fractured to expose internal surfaces, and the water (ice) can be sublimed away from small fragments of tissue without surface tension distortion by freeze-drying the specimen in a vacuum. But freeze damage, resulting mainly from ice crystal formation, is very difficult to avoid.

ALINE is a pedagogical model developed to aid nursing faculty transition from passive to active learning. Based on the constructionist theory, ALINE serves as a tool for organizing curriculum for online and classroom-based interaction and positioning the student as the active player and the instructor as the facilitator of nursing competency.