DePaul University

Abstract: The present report describes the development of the Penn State Worry Questionnaire to measure the trait of worry. The 16-item instrument emerged from factor analysis of a large number of items and was found to possess high internal consistency and good test-retest reliability. The questionnaire correlates predictably with several psychological measures reasonably related to worry, and does not correlate with other measures more remote to the construct. Responses to the questionnaire are not influenced by social desirability. The measure was found to significantly discriminate college samples (a) who met all, some, or none of the DSM-III-R diagnostic criteria for generalized anxiety disorder and (b) who met criteria for GAD vs posttraumatic stress disorder. Among 34 GAD-diagnosed clinical subjects, the worry questionnaire was found not to correlate with other measures of anxiety or depression, indicating that it is tapping an independent construct with severely anxious individuals, and coping desensitization plus cognitive therapy was found to produce significantly greater reductions in the measure than did a nondirective therapy condition.

Abstract: Introduction 1. Democracies and dictatorships 2. Dynamic of political regimes 3. Political regimes and economic growth 4. Political instability and economic growth 5. Political regimes and population Conclusion.

Abstract: This article presents a theory developed to explain why consumers make the choices they do. The theory identifies five consumption values influencing consumer choice behavior. Three representative applications of the theory are illustrated pertaining to choices involving cigarette smoking. The illustrations examined include the choice to buy or not buy (or to use or not use) cigarettes, the choice of one type of cigarette over another, and the choice of one cigarette brand over another. Results of the operationalization of the theory suggest that it may be used to predict consumption behavior, as well as to describe and explain it.

Abstract: Secret sharing is a procedure for splitting a message into several parts so that no subset of parts is sufficient to read the message, but the entire set is. We show how this procedure can be implemented using Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) states. In the quantum case the presence of an eavesdropper will introduce errors so that his presence can be detected. We also show how GHZ states can be used to split quantum information into two parts so that both parts are necessary to reconstruct the original qubit.

Abstract: Using social practice theory, this article reveals the process of collective value creation within brand communities. Moving beyond a single case study, the authors examine previously published research in conjunction with data collected in nine brand communities comprising a variety of product categories, and they identify a common set of value-creating practices. Practices have an “anatomy” consisting of (1) general procedural understandings and rules (explicit, discursive knowledge); (2) skills, abilities, and culturally appropriate consumption projects (tacit, embedded knowledge or how-to); and (3) emotional commitments expressed through actions and representations. The authors find that there are 12 common practices across brand communities, organized by four thematic aggregates, through which consumers realize value beyond that which the firm creates or anticipates. They also find that practices have a physiology, interact with one another, function like apprenticeships, endow participants ...