Showing papers by "Boston College published in 1996"

Erratum: The likelihood ratio test under nonstandard conditions: Testing the Markov switching model of GNP

Abstract: SUMMARY A theory of testing under non-standard conditions is developed. By viewing the likelihood as a function of the unknown parameters, empirical process theory enables us to bound the asymptotic distribution of standardized likelihood ratio statistics, even when conventonal regularity conditions (such as unidentified nuisance parameters and identically zero scores) are violated. This testing methodology is applied to the Markov switching model of GNP proposed by Hamilton (1989). The standardized likelihood ratio test is unable to reject the hypothesis of an AR(4) in favour of the Markov switching model. Instead, we find strong evidence for an alternative model. This model, like Hamilton's, is characterized by parameters which switch between states, but the states arrive independently over time, rather than following an unrestricted Markov process. The primary difference, however, is that the second autoregressive parameter, in addition to the intercept, switches between states.

Banks with Something to Lose: The Disciplinary Role of Franchise Value

Abstract: As protectors of the safety and soundness of the banking system, banking supervisors are responsible for keeping banks' risk taking in check The authors explain that franchise value - the present value of the stream of profits that a firm is expected to earn as a going concern - makes the supervisor's job easier by reducing banks' incentives to take risks The authors explore the relationship between franchise value and risk taking from 1986 to 1994 using both balance-sheet data and stock returns They find that banks with high franchise value operate more safely than those with low franchise value In particular, high-franchise-value banks hold more capital and take on less portfolio risk, primarily by diversifying their lending activities

Crystal structure of soybean lipoxygenase L-1 at 1.4 Å resolution

Abstract: Lipoxygenases, which are widely distributed among plant and animal species, are Fe-containing dioxygenases that act on lipids containing (Z,Z)-pentadiene moieties in the synthesis of compounds with a variety of functions. Utilizing an improved strategy of data collection, low temperature, and synchrotron radiation of short wavelength, the structure of ferrous soybean lipoxygenase L-1, a single chain protein of 839 amino acid residues, has been determined by X-ray crystallography to a resolution of 1.4 A. The R-factor for the refined model is 19.7%. General features of the protein structure were found to be consistent with the results of prior crystallographic studies at lower (2.6 A) resolution. In contrast to the prior studies, the binding of a water molecule to the active site Fe was established. The octahedral coordination sphere of the Fe also includes the side chains of His499, His504, His690, and Asn694 as well as the terminal carboxylate of Ile839, which binds as a monodentate ligand. Asn694 is inv...

Gifted Children: Myths And Realities

Abstract: Nine Myths About Giftedness Globally Gifted: The Children Behind the Myth Unevenly Gifted, Even Learning Disabled Artistic and Musical Children The IQ Myth The Biology of Giftedness Giftedness and the Family So Different from Others: The Emotional Life of the Gifted Child Schools: How They Fail, How They Could Help What Happens to Gifted Children When They Grow Up? Sorting Myth from Reality.

Manipulating gene expression with replication-competent retroviruses.

Abstract: Publisher Summary The obvious advantages of the chick for embryological studies have been tempered by the difficulties of genetic analyses in this organism. The ability to manipulate gene expression in the mouse embryo has rendered it the organism of choice for genetic studies, but the difficulty of physically manipulating the mammalian embryo limits the combination of these approaches to study development. The use of retroviral vectors to alter gene expression has proven to be a valuable alternative to transgenic approaches. Many of the genetic manipulations that have proven so powerful in the mouse can be mimicked with retroviral vectors. The use of retroviruses to alter gene expression has several advantages stemming from the comparative ease with which different expression patterns may be generated with the same virus. Many genes are reused in different tissues and at different times to mediate development. By varying the infection protocol, a single high titer virus stock may be used to address the role of a gene in many different developmental decisions.

An empirical analysis of the product-process matrix

Abstract: Process choice, a major part of operations strategy, is a key decision that links operations to business strategy. Hayes and Wheelwright, among others, argue that the emphasis given to product customization and other competitive priorities should agree with process choice. Our empirical study investigates whether firms actually link their process choice to product customization and other competitive priorities as hypothesized, and whether compatible decision patterns lead to better performance. Analysis of data collected from managers at 144 U.S. manufacturing plants shows a strong correlation between process choice, product customization, and competitive priorities. Process choice is highly related with the degree of product customization, and also with the emphasis placed on the quality and cost competitive priorities. Job shops and batch shops tend to have more product customization, higher costs, and higher quality. Some continuous flow shops use part commonality and flexible automation to achieve more customization than would otherwise be expected. Without these initiatives, customization in continuous flow shops results in weak performance.

Dynamics and Kinetics at the Gas−Liquid Interface

Abstract: This article reviews two approaches to exploring collisions and reactions between gases and liquids. We first describe molecular beam scattering experiments, which reveal the detailed ways in which gas atoms and molecules scatter from, accommodate on, and react with low vapor pressure liquids. We then discuss droplet flow tube experiments, which uncover the kinetics of the uptake of reactive and nonreactive gases in water and in aqueous solutions. Our goals are to develop simple, predictive rules for describing the fate of gas molecules coming into contact with the surface of liquids.

The Association Between Auditor Changes and Reporting Lags

Abstract: . This paper examines audit report lags and earnings announcement lags for a sample of firms that switched auditors. We investigate whether audit report and earnings announcement lags are associated with the timing of auditor changes in relation to firms' fiscal year-ends. It is hypothesized that firms which replace their auditor early (late) in the fiscal year do so for positive (negative) reasons and experience shorter (longer) reporting lags. Conflicts over reporting issues can be difficult to resolve and consequently lead to reporting delays. In other cases, clients may be more concerned about adhering to customary reporting practices or improving reporting timeliness. These are likely to be considerations in auditor realignment decisions and are predictably reflected in the timing of the auditor change. Resume. Les auteurs s'interessent aux decalages dans la production des rapports des verificateurs et dans la publication des benefices, pour un echantillon d'entreprises ayant change de verificateurs. Ils se demandent si ces decalages sont relies au choix du moment du changement de verificateurs par rapport a la date de cloture de l'exercice. Selon leur hypothese, les entreprises qui remplacent leurs verificateurs tot (tard) dans l'exercice le font pour des raisons positives (negatives), et les decalages enregistres dans la production de l'information sont plus courts (plus longs). Les conflits touchant les questions relatives a l'information a fournir peuvent etre difficiles a resoudre et, en consequence, conduire a des retards dans la publication de l'information. Dans d'autres cas, les entreprises clientes peuvent etre davantage preoccupees par le respect des methodes coutumieres de presentation de l'information ou par l'acceleration de la publication de l'information. Ces facteurs sont susceptibles d'entrer en ligne de compte dans les decisions de reorientation des verificateurs, et il est a prevoir qu'ils se refleteront dans le choix du moment du changement de verificateurs.

The morphology of synapses.

Abstract: The word synapse was coined by Sir Charles Sherrington, in 1897, to denote the normal anatomical relation between contiguous neurons (see Foster & Sherrington, 1897). In a footnote in his textbook The Physiology of the Nervous System (Fulton, 1938, p. 55), Fulton reports that he had writ ten to Sherr ington to ask him about the origin of the word synapse and that in reply Sherrington had explained that when he came to describe the junction between nerve cells he felt the need of a specific new term, because the junction had recently acquired physiological significance ( through the ascendance of the Neuron Doctrine unde r the impact of Cajal's impressive evidence). When he asked his senior author (Michael Foster) for an opinion on the term syndesm that Sherrington had in mind, Foster consulted his friend Verrall, a Euripidean scholar at Trinity College, Cambridge, who proposed synapse, because it would yield a better adjectival form. Actually the word that Sherrington in t roduced in the third volume of Foster's Textbook of Physiology (1897) was synapsis, but despite his avowed 'need ' for the term, he used it only a few times in the book. As synapsis is a Greek work, the plural would be synapses, from which the Anglicized singular synapse readily derived. By 1906, when the Silliman Lectures that Sherrington gave at Yale Universi ty 2 years earlier, were published, he was using the term synapse and that became the established form (Sherrington, 1906). Sherrington's concept of the synapse is concisely summarized on pp. 60 and 61 of The Textbook of Physiology (Vol. 3, Foster & Sherrington, 1897):

Enantioselective CC and CH Bond Formation Mediated or Catalyzed by Chiral ebthi Complexes of Titanium and Zirconium

Abstract: The development of catalytic processes that effect enantioselective bond formation under mild conditions is an important and challenging task in modern chemical synthesis. In this connection, chiral C2-symmetric ansa-metallocenes (bridged metallocenes) have found notable applications as catalysts. This article discusses the chemistry of this class of chiral metallocene complexes with regard to their utility in catalytic and enantioselective CC and CH bond formation reactions. In addition, where applicable, a brief comparison with other related catalytic enantioselective processes is offered. Many of the reactions effected with high levels of enantioselectivity by catalytic amounts of these complexes are of great significance to the preparation of new materials and in the synthesis of therapeutic agents. For example, zirconocene complexes readily catalyze the enantioselective addition of alkylmagnesium halides to alkenes, and cationic zirconocene complexes may promote the highly stereoregulated copolymerization of terminal alkenes. Furthermore, the related chiral titanocenes are involved in an impressive range of useful asymmetric catalytic reactions, including the enantioselective hydrogenation of olefins and reduction of imines or ketones. This review attempts to bring together the practical aspects of the use of [(ebthi)M] complexes of Group 4 transition metals (catalyst synthesis and resolution), outline the manner in which the C2-symmetric chiral ligands are believed to initiate stereoselective bond formation, and highlight the aspects of this chemistry that are less well understood and require further research.

Am I Thin Enough Yet?: The Cult of Thinness and the Commercialization of Identity

Abstract: In The Cult of Thinness, Sharlene Hesse-Biber builds on interviews with young women about their weight and body image and connects women's eating patterns to images in popular culture. Linking eating disorders to contemporary social, cultural, and economic pressures on women to be thin, Hesse-Biber argues that diet and workout industries profit from this cult of thinness and help to perpetuate it.

The Finance-Growth Nexus: Evidence from Bank Branch Deregulation

Abstract: This paper provides evidence that financial markets can directly affect economic growth by studying the relaxation of bank branch restrictions in the U.S. We find that the rates of real, per-capita growth in income and output increase significantly following intrastate branch reform. We also argue that the observed changes in growth are the result of changes in the banking system. Improvements in the quality of bank lending, not increased volume of bank lending, appear to be responsible for faster growth.

Gun Behind the Door? Ballot Initiatives, State Policies and Public Opinion

Abstract: One of the most important claims about the ballot initiative process is that it makes government more responsive to public demands than would be the case under a purely representative system. This argument has not been subject to systematic empirical analysis. In this article we test the claim about enhanced responsiveness, drawing on public opinion data, measures of policy outcomes, and information about the use of initiatives in the American states. We find no evidence that initiatives make for more responsive policy. We also offer a number of possible explanations for this conclusion.

Small Business Lending and Bank Consolidation: Is There Cause for Concern?

Abstract: Small banks are a major source of credit for small businesses. As banking consolidation continues, will a resulting decline in the presence of small banks adversely affect the availability of that credit?

New evidence for land plants from the lower Middle Ordovician of Saudi Arabia

Abstract: Macerations of Middle Ordovician (Llanvirnian) shales from Saudi Arabia yield an assemblage of spores of probable land plants (cryptospores), acritarchs, and chitinozoa. The production of sporopollenin-containing, sporelike tetrads is considered a fundamental character of the embryophytes, because no extant algae produce spores of this type. No trilete spores were found at this horizon, reinforcing previous assertions that obligate meiotic tetrads predate the earliest trilete spores. Sporomorph tetrads and dyads, in conjunction with cuticlelike fragments, were probably derived from terrestrial plants at a bryophyte grade. Although there are reports of possibly older cryptospores, the Hanadir assemblage described herein clearly establishes their presence by Llanvirnian time.

The therapeutic alliance

Abstract: In this authoritative book, W. W. Meissner examines all the prevailing ideas about the therapeutic alliance-the collaborative relationship between psychotherapist and an individual patient. The book is an essential reference for clinicians, theoreticians, and others who seek to understand the crucial role of the therapeutic alliance in the success of psychotherapy and psychoanalysis.

A lesion and neuroanatomical tract‐tracing analysis of the role of the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis in retrieval behavior and other aspects of maternal responsiveness in rats

Abstract: The ventral part of the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis forms a junctional region between the medial and lateral preoptic areas. Previous work has shown that the neurons in this region express Fos-like immunoreactivity during maternal behavior, suggesting their involvement in maternal behavior control. Supporting this hypothesis, the first experiment shows that excitotoxic amino acid lesions of the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis disrupt retrieval behavior and other aspects of maternal responsiveness in postpartum rats. The second study traces the efferent projections of the ventral bed nucleus with the anterograde tracer Phaseolis vulgaris leucoagglutinin. The following regions receive strong projections: lateral septum, substantia innominata, paraventricular hypothalamic nucleus, ventral premammillary nucleus, supramammillary nucleus, paraventricular thalamus, ventral tegmental area, periaqueductal gray, retrorubral field, and the region surrounding the locus coeruleus. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Children's Understanding of the Meaning and Functions of Verbal Irony

Abstract: We investigated children's understanding of irony and sensitivity to irony's meanness and humor. In Study 1, 89 participants (5-6-year-olds, 8-9-year-olds, adults) heard ironic and literal criticisms, and literal compliments. Comprehension of irony emerged between 5 and 6 years of age. Ratings of humor increased with age; ratings of meanness did not (showing that all ages perceived irony as more muted than literal criticism). In Study 2, results from 135 participants (6-7-year-olds, 8-9-year-olds, and adults) replicated these findings and revealed the role of form and intonation. Thus, comprehension of irony emerges between 5 and 6 years of age, and sensitivity to the muting function develops prior to sensitivity to the humor function.

Evidence of Skyrmion excitations about nu =1 in n-modulation-doped single quantum wells by interband optical transmission.

Abstract: A dramatic reduction in the spin polarization of a two-dimensional electron gas in a magnetic field is observed when the Fermi energy moves off the midpoint of the spin gap of the lowest Landau level, $\ensuremath{ u}\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}=\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}1$. The spin polarization is measured by magnetoabsorption spectroscopy which distinguishes the occupancy of the two electron spin states. The rapid decay of spin alignment over small changes to both higher and lower magnetic field provides experimental evidence for the presence of Skyrmion excitations where exchange energy dominates Zeeman energy in the quantum Hall regime at $\ensuremath{ u}\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}=\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}1$.

Radicalizing accounting history: the potential of oral history

Abstract: Much of the historical research in accounting continues to mimic idealized scientific methods in which written and official evidence is privileged. This research advances the narrative that the institutions of accountancy and major personalities are engaged in a heroic process of “progress”. Such a view ignores the impact of accounting on the lives of ordinary people. Thus, there is little understanding of the lived experiences of ordinary people who are affected by accounting and shape its development. This is in contrast to the currently dominant approaches to writing accounting history. Calls for the use of oral histories so that those marginalized and neglected by conventional history can be given a voice and problematize the narratives of “progress” dominating accounting research.