Showing papers by "Boston College published in 1987"

First-Order, Second-Order, and Third-Order Change and Organization Development Interventions: A Cognitive Approach:

Abstract: This article discusses how recent developments in the cognitive sciences, especialy the concept of schemata (organizing frameworks for understanding events), can illumine the practice of organization development. On the basis of a cognitive perspective, the authors discuss the relationship between organizational change and schemata, describing the following orders of change that might result from OD: first-order change, or incremental changes occurring within particular schemata already shared by members of a client system, second-order change, or modifications in the shared schemata themselves; and third-order change, or the development of the capacity of the client system to change the schemata as events require. To show how understanding the differences among orders of change can help clarify problems and solutions from an intervention, the authors discuss how a paternalism schema affected a particular quality of working life intervention. They conclude by suggesting implications of the cognitive persp...

Cognitive maps as orienting schemata.

Abstract: A "point-to-unseen-targets" task was used to test two theories about the nature of cognitive mapping. The hypothesis that a cognitive map is like a "picture in the head" predicts that (a) the cognitive map should have a preferred orientation and (b) all coded locations should be equally available. These predictions were confirmed in Experiments 1 and 3 when targets were cities in the northeastern United States and learning was from a map. The theory that a cognitive map is an orienting schema predicts that the cognitive map should have no preferred orientation and that targets in front of the body should be localized faster than targets behind the body. These predictions were confirmed in Experiments 1 and 2 when targets were local landmarks that had been learned via direct experience. In Experiment 3, when cities in the Northeast were targets and geographical knowledge had been acquired, in part, by traveling in the Northeast, the observed latency profiles were not as predicted by either theory of cognitive mapping. The results suggest that orienting schemata direct orientation with respect to local environments, but that orientation with respect to large geographical regions is supported by a different type of cognitive structure.

Effects of functional group changes in the EcoRI recognition site on the cleavage reaction catalyzed by the endonuclease

Abstract: Oligodeoxynucleotides have been prepared which contain changes in the functional group pattern present in the EcoRV recognition site d(GATATC). These modifications involve the deletion of specific functional groups or the reversal of the relative positions of functional groups within the canonical six base pair recognition site. The duplex stability of these modified oligodeoxynucleotides has been assessed by determining the thermodynamic parameters characterizing helix formation. Steady-state kinetic parameters have been used to characterize the interaction of the modified oligodeoxynucleotides with the EcoRV endonuclease. The enzyme is very sensitive to the deletion of either of the adenine amino or thymine methyl groups, or the reversal of the relative positions of the adenine amino group and thymine carboxy group which form an interstrand hydrogen bond in the major groove of the B-DNA helix. Conversely, deletion of the guanine amino group had only minimal effects upon the measured kinetic parameters. Deletion of the exocyclic amino group from the "inner" dA-dT base pair resulted in the fragment which interacted with the enzyme on the basis of observed inhibition experiments but was not cleaved. The results suggest that the endonuclease interacts with its recognition sequence via contacts in the major groove of the B-DNA helix and that both hydrogen bonding to the adenine amino groups and also hydrophobic interactions with the thymine methyl groups are involved.

An empirical investigation of audit qualification decisions in the presence of going concern uncertainties

Abstract: . This study presents a logistic regression model which is used to identify U.S. companies that are likely to have their financial statements qualified for going concern reasons. The model is developed using financial statement data for a sample of failing companies. Validation tests performed on independent samples of bankrupt and nonbankrupt companies indicate that the model has reasonable explanatory power. The findings from this study indicate that the auditor's qualification for companies in financial distress is correlated with variables derived from financial statement data. The variables that are consistently identified as being closely associated with the auditor's decision whether to qualify his opinion are recurring operating losses and change in a company's liquidity position. Resume. Cette etude presente un modele de regression logistique utilise afin d'identifier les societes americaines dont les etats financiers sont susceptibles d'etre accompagnes d'une opinion avec restriction quant a la permanence de l'entreprise. Le modele est construit a l'aide de donnees tirees d'etats financiers provenant d'un echantillon d'entreprises en difficultes. Des tests de validation effectues sur des echantillons independants de societe faillies et non-faillies, indiquent que le modele demontre une capacite explicative acceptable. Les resultats de cette etude montrent une correlation entre, d'une part, l'opinion avec restriction dans le cas de societes en difficultes financieres et entre, d'autre part, des variables tirees des donnees d'etats financiers. Les variables qui sont regulierement identifiees comme etant reliees de pres a la decision du verificateur d'emettre un rapport avec restriction, sont les pertes d'exploitation repetitives et la variation dans la position de tresorerie d'une societe.

The field of social investment

Abstract: Preface Part I. The Idea of Social Investment: 1. The meaning of social investment 2. The activity of social investment 3. A theory of social investment Part II. Social Criteria and Research: 4. Social investment in business corporations 5. Social investment in industry: a new social policy 6. Social research on industrial policy 7. Investment in community development Part III. Global Social Investment: 8. International investment 9. Social development in the Third World Epilogue: social investment as a self-correcting movement in the market system Notes Bibliography Name index Subject index.

Monte Carlo modeling of ionospheric oxygen acceleration by cyclotron resonance with broad-band electromagnetic turbulence

Abstract: It is demonstrated that cyclotron resonance with observed electric field fluctuations is responsible for production of the oxygen-ion conics that are observed by the Dynamics Explorer 1 satellite in the central plasma-sheet region of the earth's magnetosphere. The ion-velocity distribution is described by a quasi-linear diffusion equation which is solved by the Monte Carlo technique. The acceleration produced by the observed wave spectrum agrees well with the ion observations, in both form and magnitude. This is believed to represent the first successful comparison of an observed conic with any theoretical model.

The Knowledge Acquisition Grid: a method for training knowledge engineers

Abstract: This paper describes the Knowledge Acquisition Grid, developed to assist knowledge engineers in the manual transfer of expertise. The Grid is used in a knowledge-acquisition module which itself is part of a larger program designed to train people in knowledge engineering techniques offered by Digital Equipment Corporation. The Grid describes a two-dimensional space in which five forms of expert knowledge and six basic types of interview questions constitute the horizontal and vertical dimensions respectively. Description of the rationale, dimensions, components, and strategy for use of the Grid in the knowledge-acquisition component of building an expert system is provided along with discussion of the need for greater attention in general to the social psychology of expert interviewing.

Human Development and Managerial Effectiveness

Abstract: Managerial effectiveness can be explained from a human development point of view. Recent research links structural theories of adult development to decision making and leadership performance. The implications are far-reaching for the management development professions. Applying what is known about human development would mean major changes in goals and methods for management education in universities, management training in organizations, and the practice of organization development.

Solution of a Protein Crystal Structure with a Model Obtained from NMR Interproton Distance Restraints

Abstract: Model calculations were performed to test the possibility of solving crystal structures of proteins by Patterson search techniques with three-dimensional structures obtained from nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) interproton distance restraints. Structures for crambin obtained from simulated NMR data were used as the test system; the root-mean-square deviations of the NMR structures from the x-ray structure were 1.5 to 2.2 A for backbone atoms and 2.0 to 2.8 A for side-chain atoms. Patterson searches were made to determine the orientation and position of the NMR structures in the unit cell. The correct solution was obtained by comparing the rotation function results of several of the NMR structures and the average structure derived from them. Conventional refinement techniques reduced the R factor from 0.43 at 4 A resolution to 0.27 at 2 A resolution without inclusion of water molecules. The partially refined structure has root-mean-square backbone and side-chain atom deviations from the x-ray structure of 0.5 and 1.3 A, respectively.

The economic status of the elderly: beware of the mean*

Abstract: Current discussion contains widely contradictory statements about the economic status of the elderly in the United States. One can read that poverty among the elderly has been eliminated, and that it remains one of the most serious problems facing the country today. This paper discusses different ways of measuring economic status, and attempts to show how authors can reach such divergent conclusions, and support them with readily available data. The U.S. Census data on personal income generally exclude in-kind benefits, and treat family size in a straightforward though unsophisticated manner. This paper shows that alternative treatments of these issues can have significant effects on indices of the economic status of the elderly. Whether or not in-kind benefits are included in the definition of income, which in-kind benefits are included and how they are valued change the conclusions dramatically. Even more important is whether the income data are presented by household or per capita (or with some intermediate divisor, using equivalency scales), since elderly households are the smallest of any age category. This paper makes 3 points. One is that there has been significant progress in the economic status of the elderly over the past several decades, although the extent of the improvement is subject to debate. But the second is that summary statistics about the elderly, such as the above, may conceal more than they reveal. The diversity of the elderly is key. Beware of the mean. Finally, there is no one correct way to measure well-being. Different methodological approaches can be chosen and justified, and the choices made alter the conclusions significantly.

Meaning Making and Management Action

Abstract: This research suggests that management styles are shaped by developmental stage, that is, by the way the individual makes meaning of his or her world. Subjects were 49 MBA alumni and students, all ...

Implicit Contracts, Labor Mobility and Unemployment

Abstract: Firms' inability to monitor their employees' search effort forces a tradeoff between risk-bearing and incentive considerations when designing employment-related insurance Since the provision of insurance against firm-specific shocks adversely affects workers' incentives to find better jobs, the optimal contract provides only partial insurance: it prescribes low (high) wages and under (over) employment to encourage workers to leave (stay) at low (high) productivity firms; and it employs quits and layoffs as alternative means of inducing separations at low productivity firms, with the mix depending upon the relative efficiency of the on- and off-the-job search technologies Our analysis of implicit contracts with asymmetric search information establishes that any consistent explanation for worksharing, layoffs, severance pay, quits and unemployment must focus on questions of labor mobility

Chapter 5: Charms Talismanic: Testing Teachers for the Improvement of American Education:

Abstract: During the last decade a majority of the states have adopted new teacher tests. Proposals for new national tests for teachers abound. And, in the last few years, the amount of literature devoted to teacher testing has increased dramatically. The aim of this chapter is to review these developments. But first, we document the tremendous recent growth in teacher testing to show why such a review is both timely and important. The number of states requiring teachers or would-be teachers to pass some form of entrance or certification examination has grown from only a handful in the mid-1970s to a clear majority by the mid-1980s (Lehmann & Phillips, 1985; Office of Educational Research and Improvement, in press). According to one observer, \"By 1990, virtually every state will require tests of basic skills, subject matter knowledge, or professional knowledge before a teacher can receive a standard license to teach\" (Darling-Hammond, 1986, p. 1). Moreover, in the last few years there have been several national initiatives calling for new assessments of teachers and prospective teachers. Leaders of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and the National Education Association (NEA) have called for a national test for teachers that would be controlled, not by state education agencies, but by teachers and other professional educators (Richburg, 1985; Shanker, 1985). In 1985, the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) adopted new standards for the accreditation of colleges, school de-

The differential importance of weight and body image among college men and women.

Abstract: Among a sample of American college students, body image and the degree of desired weight change were associated with academic self-rankings, with social and psychological well-being, and with the development of eating difficulties. The effects of body image and desired weight change on eating disorders were generally found to be greater for women than for men, and their effects on student self-rankings of academic ability, social, and psychological traits were more pervasive for women than for men. The less attractive a woman perceived herself to be and the more weight she wanted to lose, the greater was her overall sense of academic, social, and psychological impairment. Women who had poor body images and who desired to lose weight were more likely to report eating difficulties.

Relationship of obsessive-compulsive personality to obsessive-compulsive disorder: a review of the literature.

Abstract: The nature of the relationship between obsessive-compulsive personality and obsessive-compulsive disorder has been the subject of considerable debate The present article dealt with clinical opinion and reviewed empirical data bearing on this issue It was concluded that, although the two clinical entities bear a surface similarity in terms of shared behavioral features and defenses, obsessive-compulsive personality is neither a necessary nor sufficient factor in the development of obsessive-compulsive disorder, though the latter appears to be more frequently associated with premorbid obsessive-compulsive personality patterns than with other personality patterns Suggestions for future research study are made

The Texas Teacher Test

Abstract: The TECAT, the Texas Examination of Current Administrators and Teachers, is a test of basic literacy that was given to Texas teachers in March, 1986. The test, seen as politically essential to leverage a tax increase and pay raise for teachers, was intended to raise the public esteem of teachers by weeding out incompetents. Teachers expended massive effort in reviewing basic skills and drilling on test format. After two tries 99% of the 210,000 who took the test had passed. Shop teachers, special education-teachers, and coaches were overrepresented among the failures. The costs of district-sponsored workshops and the in-service day to take the test brought its public cost to a sum 10 tunes greater than policy makers had anticipated. Though most teachers agreed that literacy skills are prerequisite to good teaching, paradoxically, most also reported that being threatended by a low-level test of fundamental skills was demoralizing. Ironically, many think that the TECAT damaged public esteem for teachers bec...

"Martensitic" instability of an icosahedral quasicrystal.

Abstract: A density-functional theory is developed to calculate the elastic moduli of crystals and quasicrystals. It is found that the nonaffine character of deformations below the unit-cell scale causes the Poisson ratio of a hard-sphere solid to be negative. An elastic instability is found for the icosahedral quasicrystals which lowers their symmetry to ${D}_{3}$ or ${D}_{5}$. The distortions of the diffraction pattern are in qualitative agreement with experiments.

Dispersion of Rg waves in southeastern Maine: Evidence for lateral anisotropy in the shallow crust

Abstract: Group velocities of short-period Rayleigh waves ( Rg ) are sensitive to variations in the velocity structure of the upper few kilometers of the crust. In this study, we analyzed dispersive properties of Rg waves recorded from blasts detonated as part of the Maine seismic refraction experiment conducted in 1984 by the U.S. Geological Survey. The period range of the Rg waves in this study is 0.4 to 1.6 sec; group velocities in this period range are sensitive to the velocity structure at depths ranging from very near the surface to about 2 km. Group velocities were found to vary significantly from one path to the next. A simple explanation of the observed pattern of group velocities is that higher velocities were observed for paths parallel to the structural grain of the Appalachians than for paths transverse to the grain. For example, 1-sec Rg waves have group velocities of about 3.0 to 3.2 km/sec for paths parallel to the grain and about 2.6 to 2.7 km/sec for paths transverse to the grain. Thus, our results suggest that the shallow crust beneath the Appalachians of southeastern Maine is laterally anisotropic. Rg group velocities from this study were inverted to obtain shear wave velocity models of the upper 1.5 to 2.0 km of the crust underlying southeastern Maine. To compare our results with refraction and laboratory results, V p was estimated from V s using a V p /V s ratio of 1.78. Inverting the average group velocities for all paths in this study resulted in a V p model with velocities ranging from 4.9 km/sec in the upper 0.3 km to 6.2 km/sec at 2 km depth. The range in observed Rg group velocities from one path to the next is evidence of a variation in shallow crustal structure depending on geographical location and/or orientation of the paths. In the upper 0.3 km, V p appears to range from about 4.8 to 5.3 km/sec, and at 2 km depth V p appears to range from about 5.6 to 6.6 km/sec.

Memory for Verbally Presented Routes: A Comparison of Strategies Used by Blind and Sighted People:

Abstract: Experiments were conducted to determine the manner in which congenitally blind and sighted people remember verbal route descriptions. Subjects listened to route descriptions and were then required ...

What can managers do about unethical management

Abstract: What can and should we do as managers and administrators when our sense of personal morality is at odds with our organization's behavior? Among the many alternatives are: (1) not think about it; (2) go along and get along; (3) protest; (4) conscientiously object; (5) leave; (6) secretly blow the whistle; (7) publicly blow the whistle; (8) secretly threaten to blow the whistle; (9) sabotage; and, (10) negotiate and build consensus for a change in the unethical behavior. This article considers the advantages and disadvantages of these ten types of strategies based on some philosophy, game theory and everyday pragmatics.

Who Should Learn What From the Failure and Delayed Bailout of the ODGF

Abstract: In March 1985, the failure of the Ohio Deposit Guarantee Fund (the ODGF) sent shock waves reverberating through the financial world. This episode is popularly interpreted as evidence of the dangers of both private deposit insurance and continuing financial deregulation. This paper argues that policies of financial deregulation played little role in the ODGF insolvency. The failure of the ODGF was instead a failure of government regulation, rooted in inadequacies in the OGDF information and enforcement systems. The ODGF may be conceived as the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation writ small. Both agencies share many of the same structural imbalances: large unresolved losses, explicitly mispriced and underreserved services, inadequate information and monitoring systems, insufficient disciplinary powers, and a susceptibility to political pressures to forbear. Doctors perform autopsies on dead patients to improve their ability to protect living ones. This paper's autopsy of the institutional corpse of the ODGF focuses on identifying the kinds of disturbances that transform structural imbalances into a full-fledged crisis. Our research underscores the way that deceptive accounting and underfinanced insurance funds contain crisis pressures in the short run by setting the stage for more severe problems down the line. As financial markets approach more and more closely the perfect and complete markets beloved by finance theorists, the amount of time that can be bought by policies that merely defer crisis pressures is shrinking and becoming hard to use productively.

Hormones in Plant Senescence

Abstract: Senescence, as the terminal phase of development of a biological structure, follows characteristic patterns of decomposition and metabolism, that are modulated by a host of internal and environmental cues. All of the major classes of plant hormones, as well as cellular regulators such as nucleotides, calcium, and polyamines alter the rate and/or pattern of senescence in diverse plant materials. Light, temperature, as well as nutritional status also strongly influence this aging process.

Social security and physical quality of life in developing nations: A cross-national analysis

Abstract: Much research has been done assessing cross-national variation in level of social security program development, but very little analysis has been done of the link between social security development and social welfare outputs such as physical quality of life. There is much debate as to whether any independent effect remains once differences in level of development are taken into consideration. Hypotheses derived from several general theories of inequality and welfare state development are tested. The analysis is based in part on a cross-sectional sample of 80 developing nations and in part on a pooled sample for 1970 and 1975. We find strong support for hypotheses derived from industrialism theory and demographic modernization theory. In addition we find support for hypotheses derived from dependency theory and ethnic conflict theory and some effect for social security spending. Also of note is our failure to find support for hypotheses derived from democratic theory or class (working class strength) theory.

The Professional as the Executive's Ethical Aide-de-Camp

Abstract: nagging question in the minds of most Americans following the Challenger space shuttle explosion on January 28, 1986 is, how on earth could NASA management officials have allowed the shuttle to take off, given what appears to have been clear-cut warnings about problems with the shuttle's solid rocket booster joints. Whatever pressure the managers were facing to launch the shuttle, didn't they know enough technically to realize that the lives of the crew were in serious danger? If, in fact, they did not know enough about the technical apparatus of the shuttle, as good managers should they not have been in constant contact with their trained professionals regarding the spacecraft's safety?