Showing papers by "Boston College published in 1985"

When Cultures Collide: The Anatomy of a Merger

Abstract: An extended case study of a recent merger between two mutual savings banks is studied from the perspective of organizational culture. Data on organizational culture and organizational climate are analyzed from pre- and post-merger interviews, observations, archival information, and survey questionnaires. Results suggest that even within the same industry, there are major difficulties in trying to merge two different though viable organizational cultures.

Defined Benefit Versus Defined Contribution Pension Plans: What are the Real Tradeoffs?

Abstract: Defined Benefit and Defined Contribution plans have significantly different characteristics with respect to the risks faced by employers and employees, the sensitivity of benefits to inflation, the flexibility of funding, and the importance of governmental supervision. In this paper, we examine some of the main tradeoffs involved in the choice between DB and DC plans. Our most general conclusion is that neither plan type can be said to wholly dominate the other from the perspective of employee welfare.The major advantage of DB plans is the potential they offer to provide a stable replacement rate of final income to workers. If the replacement rate is the relevant variable for worker retirement utility, then DB plans offer some degree of insurance against real wage risk. Of course, protection offered to workers is risk borne by the firm. As real wages change, funding rates must correspondingly adjust. However, to the extent that real wage risk is largely diversifiable to employers, and nondiversifiable to employees, the replacement rate stability should be viewed as an advantage of DB plans. The advantages of DC plans are most apparent during periods of inflation uncertainty. These are: the predictability of the value of pension wealth, the ability to invest in inflation-hedged portfolios rather than nominal DB annuities,and the fully-funded nature of the DC plan. Finally, the DC plan has the advantage that workers can more easily determine the true present value of the pension benefit they earn in any year, although they may have more incertainty about future pension-benefit flows at retirement. Measuring the present value of accruing defined benefits is difficult at best and imposes severe informational requirements on workers. Such difficulties could lead workers to misvalue their total compensation, and result in misinformed behavior.

Intrapreneurship strategy for internal markets — corporate, non‐profit and government institution cases

Abstract: When an organization tries to realize better its central mission, it is often important to maintain both line and staff units' integration with the central mission while flexibly and innovatively responding to evolving and changing external markets and environments. However, internal flexibility/innovation and integration needs often conflict. Thus, how to resolve these conflicting needs becomes somewhat of a dilemma (Lorsch and Allen, 1973; Nielsen, 1981, 1983d).

Goffman's legacy to political sociology

Abstract: I don't claim that Goffman addressed the questions that animate political sociologists. He was not interested in analyzing interaction to learn how it contributed to mobilization for collective action aimed at social change. He was not interested in changing political consciousness or in how the mass media and other social institutions make such change so difficult. But for those who are interested in such questions, he is worth heeding. His is an unanticipated bequest — from the cranky uncle who we always thought had no great love or admiration for our line of work.

Postural Mirroring and Intergroup Relations

Abstract: The present study examined the effects of four types of intergroup orientation on interpersonal postural mirroring both within and between groups. One hundred and four female subjects were assigned to quartets, each made up of two dyads in one of four conditions: (1) Control; (2) coacting; (3) cooperating; and (4) competing. As predicted, results showed greater intergroup relative to intragroup mirroring for cooperating dyads than for competing dyads. Unexpectedly, subjects in the coacting condition showed a significantly higher level of intergroup mirroring than any other condition. Both results are interpreted as evidence that postural mirroring is an obvious yet unobtrusive indicator of openness to interpersonal involvement.

On the inefficacy of limiting instructions - When jurors use prior conviction evidence to decide on guilt

Abstract: The rationale for allowing into evidence a defendant's criminal record asserts that such evidence can be used for the limited purpose of impeaching a defendant witness's credibility and, in accord with judges' instructions, will not be used to assess likelihood of guilt The effect that the defendant's prior record has on mock jurors' assessments of credibility and guilt was tested in a two (cases) x four (type of prior conviction) factorial design Adults' ratings of the defendant's credibility did not vary as a function of prior record and were consistently the lowest of the credibility ratings of all witnesses Conviction rates did vary by prior record, however, with the highest conviction rate occurring when the prior conviction was the same as the present charge and the lowest conviction rate occurring in the no-prior-conviction condition Defendants with a previous conviction for perjury or a dissimilar crime were convicted at an intermediate rate We concluded that the risk of prejudice to the defense under existing policy is greater than the unrealized potential benefit to the prosecution

Polar cusp dynamics

Abstract: The position of dayside aurora (as measured from South Pole station in 1981) is compared to the interplanetary magnetic field Bz component and to the AE index. The results support our earlier work showing a close relationship with AE and little correlation with Bz. Two recent papers have presented data that purport to contradict this interpretation, claiming a dominant Bz correlation. A reanalysis of the data sets used in those papers does not support Bz dependence, and in fact reaffirms a close dependence on AE. We conclude that the position of the dayside cusp is largely controlled by substorm processes internal to the magnetosphere rather than by direct merging and erosion processes with the interplanetary field.

Anatomical identification of neurons in selected brain regions associated with maternal behavior deficits induced by knife cuts of the lateral hypothalamus in rats.

Abstract: The present experiment identified neurons associated with maternal behavior deficits induced by damage to the lateral hypothalamus (LH) in rats. Fully maternal lactating rats received bilateral coronal knife cuts through either the dorsal or ventral LH at the level of the ventromedial nucleus. The blade of the wire knife used to make the cuts was coated with horseradish peroxidase (HRP). The maternal behavior of all females was studied for 4 days postoperatively and then the brains were processed for the localization of neurons retrogradely filled with HRP. The analysis focused on those brain regions thought to be important for maternal behavior. The dorsal LH cuts severely disrupted maternal behavior while the ventral LH cuts did not. The ventral cuts labeled more medial preoptic area (MPOA) and septal-diagonal band neurons with HRP than did the dorsal cuts. The dorsal LH cuts labeled more neurons with HRP in the lateral preoptic area (LPOA), magnocellular preoptic area, bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, ventral tegmental area (VTA), substantia nigra, and central gray than did the ventral cuts. Previous research has suggested that the lateral efferents of the MPOA interact with the VTA in the control of maternal behavior. The results of the present experiment suggest that MPOA axons which descend directly to the brainstem via the ventral LH are not essential for maternal behavior. Our results are consistent with the view that an MPOA-to-LPOA-to-VTA circuit may be important for maternal behavior.

Race, academic achievement, and self-concept of ability

Abstract: In the year-and-a-half since the College Board released detailed tables on SAT scores by race, much of the heated reaction has now abated. This study explores the data behind those tables and seeks a fuller explanation of the observed differences in SAT scores among racial and ethnic segments of college-bound test takers. It highlights a social psychological correlate that mediates between environmental factors and SAT performance, beginning with the finding that blacks at the same level of test performance exhibit greater self-esteem than whites on a series of self-rated abilities. Implications of the analysis are discussed and directions for further research suggested.

Cost-minimizing regulation of sulfur emissions: regional gains in electric power.

Abstract: Environmental regulations set maximum allowable rates for sulfur dioxide emissions from electric utilities. By ignoring firm differences in marginal abatement costs and preventing emissions trading, these standards do not minimize the cost of reducing einissions. This paper estimates marginal abatement cost functions for 56 utilities for 1973-79. Marginal costs vary substantially across firms due to differences in the price of low and high sulfur fuels and the intensity of regulation. The potential savings from a cost minimizing reallocation of abatement resources are estimated for five regions. Current expenditures are found to be 47% higher than cost minimizing levels. I MPLEMENTATION of the 1970 Clean Air Act Amendments relies extensively on technology-based emission standards. Economists long have recognized that these standards can result in an inefficient allocation of pollution control resources.' Engineering-based restrictions ignore or oversimplify differences in abatement costs among polluters. Limited empirical research suggests that current standards result in substantially higher costs, as much as ten times higher, than a cost-minimizing regulatory scheme.2 These studies, however, are based on engineering estimates of marginal abatement costs. The models often assume that all polluters adopt control technologies that are required only for new plants and that have been largely unadopted by polluting firms.3 The impact of changing factor prices on marginal abatement costs typically is ignored. The difficulty is that the resulting estimates of the cost of regulation neither adequately reflect the range of control options available to polluters nor take into account how polluters actually have responded to environmen-

The Mathematics of Double Entry Bookkeeping

Abstract: (1985). The Mathematics of Double Entry Bookkeeping. Mathematics Magazine: Vol. 58, No. 4, pp. 226-233.

Brain Mechanisms and Parental Behavior

Abstract: The present review concerns itself with a discussion of the brain mechanisms underlying parental behavior in mammals. Until recently, little research has been directed at attempting to elucidate the neural mechanisms underlying such behavior. Additionally, most of the research has investigated the neural mechanisms underlying maternal behavior in the rat and the mouse, and the majority of these studies deal with the rat. It is hoped that the present review will be useful in stimulating research that will eventually result in a truly comparative understanding of the brain mechanisms underlying mammalian parental behavior.

Rapid nocturnal increase in ovine pineal N-acetyltransferase activity and melatonin synthesis: effects of cycloheximide.

Abstract: Thirty minutes after the onset of darkness, ovine pineal arylalkylamine N-acetyltransferase, N-acetylserotonin, and melatonin increase 5- to 10-fold. No significant changes in hydroxyindole-O-methyltransferase, 5-hydroxytryptamine, 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid, 5-hydroxytryptophol, 5-methoxyindoleacetic acid, and 5-methoxytryptophol are detected at this time. Administration of cycloheximide inhibits the rise in N-acetyltransferase and N-acetylserotonin, but not melatonin. Unexpectedly, 5-methoxytryptophol increases after cycloheximide treatment. Taken together, these results, although consistent in part with a role for serotonin N-acetylation in the regulation of melatonin synthesis in sheep, indicate that an N-acetyltransferase-independent mechanism may also be involved.

Serotonin and schizophrenia: correlations between serotonergic activity and schizophrenic motor behavior.

Abstract: Increased serotonergic activity in animals has been associated with a variety of stereotyped motor behaviors. In addition, serotonin facilitates brainstem, reticular, and spinal motor neuronal activity implicated in the expression of these behaviors. This report presents positive correlations between both peripheral (platelet serotonin levels) and central (cerebrospinal concentrations of 5-hydroxy-indoleacetic acid) measures of serotonin metabolism and the symptom of peculiar or unusual mannerisms and posturing in schizophrenic patients. The findings are discussed in light of the animal behavioral correlates of increased serotonergic activity and the stereotyped affectomotor behavior seen in some schizophrenic patients.

On the Terminology of 'Abstraction'in Aristotle

Abstract: This chapter makes a fresh analysis of the terminology of 'abstraction' as it is used in the Aristotelian corpus. Significantly, such an analysis has not been done recently in the literature on Aristotle, presumably because the question has been taken as settled. The chapter begins with a passage from the Posterior Analytics where the terminology of abstraction appears side by side with terms like 'induction' and 'demonstration'. It embarks upon a brief philological excursus for the purpose of digging beneath the technical surface and exposing the mundane roots of the abstraction terminology. The chapter investigates both how the terminology of abstraction comes to have a narrower technical function and what other technical terms are linked with it. The chapter concentrates on showing that it is the logical method of subtraction which makes the so-called 'abstract objects' available for scientific study. Keywords:abstraction; Aristotle; philological excursus; terminology

Work patterns in the professional life‐cycle*

Abstract: A discriminant analysis was performed on a sample (n = 114) of salaried professionals to distinguish work patterns among three age groups corresponding to early, middle and late career stages. Three distinct profiles were generated by the two significant discriminant functions which emerged. The three career stage groups were given identifying labels: ‘finding a niche’, ‘digging in’ and ‘entrenched’. The findings support a life-cycle hypothesis of ageing and work patterns, although there is some substantiation for the cohort and ageing hypotheses in the literature. Scenarios for each of the three career stages are provided along with implications for improving the management of age-specific professional human resources.

The Evolution of the Property Tax: A Study of the Relation between Public Finance and Political Theory

Abstract: The property tax has perplexed and frustrated economists for decades, and for most of this century it has been denounced as an unjustifiable relic of the Middle Ages, which has unaccountably survived into modern times. The property tax is in fact the oldest tax in any modern system of public finance, and because of its age it has been associated with both modern and premodern tax philosophies. This essay explores the political context of the property tax in its medieval and modern settings--i.e., before and after the seventeenth-century revolution in political philosophy that gave birth to liberalism and "political economy." That revolution altered our understanding of the purpose of the state, bringing corresponding changes to our understanding of public finance. The modern property tax is a legacy of that revolution. But the modern property tax is mostly a legal facade, concealing a very different tax behind it. The de facto property tax, made possible by decentralized administration and by informal and...

Average electron precipitation in the polar cusps, cleft and cap

Abstract: Results are given of the statistical properties of electron precipitation measured at low altitudes by polar orbiting satellites. The morphology of high latitude electron precipitation is determined in the polar cap, the polar cusp, and the polar cleft as a function of magnetic latitude, local time, and activity, Kp. Results show that a polar cusp region highly confined in latitude and local time can be Identified by a minimum in the precipitating electron average energy. This region lies very close to local noon, but is not spatially coincident with the maximum in precipitating electron flux which occurs several hours earlier. Surrounding the cusp is a well-defined region of low energy precipitation whose contours of constant integral flux have crescent shapes centered about the flux maxima. This is best seen in cases of low magnetic activity when boundary plasma sheet electron precipitation is not strong. We refer to this region as the cleft. The average energy of the cleft electrons increases steadily as one moves away from the cusp in local time and in latitude. The polar cap appears to have two states: an active state, when the IMF is northward; and a quiet state, characterized by polar rain precipitation and occurring when the oval is active. Two-dimensional maps of integral flux and average energy for polar rain occurrence show that the basic vatiation in this precipitation is from dayside to nightside. The axis ot symmetry for the variation is pre-noon to pre-midnight with the integral flux (average energy) increasing (decreasing) from day to night. These variations in number flux and average energy exhibit a symmetry that is an extension of that seen in the cleft.