Showing papers by "DePaul University published in 1992"

Influence Strategies in Marketing Channels: Measures and Use in Different Relationship Structures:

Abstract: The authors develop new measures of influence strategies in marketing channels (i.e., the means by which a firm's personnel communicate with its partners to affect their behavior) in order to exami...

Expressive development and basic emotions

Abstract: One important emotion theory currently postulates an innate tie between specific infant facial expressions and a set of discrete basic emotions. The arguments and evidence relevant to this assertion are reviewed. New data are presented from a naturalistic study of one infant's early expressive development and a judgement study of infant facial, vocal, and body activity. These data challenge the innate tie hypothesis. Based on dynamical systems systems theory, an alternate conceptual framework is presented that may allow us to usefully retain the concept of basic emotions while accommodating the data on infant expressive development.

Problem-solving skills training as a supplement to behavioral parent training

Abstract: This study evaluated the effectiveness of problem-solving training as an adjunct to parenting-skills training in a group program for self-referred parents concerned about child behavior problems. Fifty-three parents were randomly assigned to either parent training + problem-solving Training (n = 221), parent training + extra discussion (n = 16), or to a waiting list control group (n = 16). At posttest, both treatment groups demonstrated significant improvements in parenting behaviors as measured by a situation test of behavioral parenting skills, and by parent self-report of punitiveness. Both treatments also resulted in significant improvements in child behavior problems as measured by parent reports of three child behaviors of concern to them. On the other hand, only the parenting skills + problem solving-skills training program resulted in significant reductions in the intensity of the wider range of child behavior problems sampled by the Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory. Also, only the program with supplementary training in problem solving resulted in significant improvements in parent attitudes concerning the children's adjustment and character (Parent Attitudes Test), and concerning parents' own functioning in the parental role (Parenting Stress Index — Parent Domain). At 4- to 6-month followup, treatment gains were maintained in both treatment groups on four of seven outcome variables, but there were no statistically significant differences between the two groups. The implications of these results for preventive programs are discussed, as are the limitations of the study.

A Comparison of Three Joint Ordering Inventory Policies

Abstract: This paper evaluates the performance of a joint ordering inventory policy which was first suggested and characterized by Renberg and Planche [14]. This paper shows that the policy is easily characterized for Poisson demands. This policy is then compared with two other joint ordering policies—the well-known (S, c, s) or can-order policy of Balintfy [3] and the recent periodic policies suggested by Atkins and lyogun [2]. For a continuous review operating environment, the Renberg and Planche policy utilizes a group reorder point and a combined order quantity (Q), with each item maintaining an order-up-to level (S). For the can-order policy, each item in the product group has a must-order point (s), a can-order point (c) and an order-up-to level (S). The periodic policies require that item orders be grouped at some fixed scheduled intervals. Using long-run total average costs as the basis, it is shown that no one policy is superior to the others in all the examples tested. In some cases, the Renberg and Planche policy performs surprisingly well.

Delphi study of software maintenance problems

Abstract: The Delphi technique was used to compile a list of major problems in software maintenance, quantify them, and strengthen the consensus in iterations. Forty-four experienced software maintenance professionals responded in the final round. Assembled rationales and arguments provide an abundance of information on maintenance problems, and their causes and consequences. Maintenance problems were grouped into four problem categories: maintenance management, organizational environment, personnel factors and system characteristics. Problems form the maintenance management category dominate the top of the major problems list. Relationships among problem categories and their causations were analyzed. The data show that the organizational environment influences maintenance management problems, which in turn influence problems from the personnel factors category. Personnel problems are also dependent on system characteristics. >

Catholicism and the Economics of Fertility

Abstract: The economic approach to fertility is an application of the economic theory of consumer behaviour. It is assumed that utility-maximizing decisions regarding children are affected by explicit and implicit prices and income. One of the criticisms of this approach is that social norms tend to be given short shrift. In this paper, we examine the effect of Catholicism on fertility in the United States. Several new findings are presented. Most importantly, it is shown that many studies on Catholicism are flawed because of sample selection bias, which arises because ex-Catholics prefer smaller families than non-Catholics. We also show that religious activity has no effect on fertility if it is treated as an endogenous variable. Further, it is shown that the fertility transition in the United States is partly related to the changing effect of Catholic norms.

Infant interest expressions as coordinative motor structures

Abstract: Two opposing facial actions, raised and knit (contracted} brows, hove been considered expressions of the unitary emotion of interest. We examined differential relationships between these brow actions and accompanying head, eye, arm, and other facial movements in 5- and 7-month-old infants who were videotaped as toys were presented above or below eye level. Raised-brow movements significantly co-occurred with head-up and/or eyes-up movements for both ages. Knit-brows co-occurred with eyes-down at 5 months and head-down at 7 months. Frequency of arm movements was not systematically related to head, eye, or brow movements. Muscles that move the brows con be recruited when young infants move their head and/or eyes. Therefore, converging sources of evidence are needed before interest con be inferred from the brow actions of infants.

Analytic microdosimetry for radioimmunotherapeutic alpha emitters.

Abstract: Analytic microdosimetry using Fourier transform techniques has been applied to internal alpha emitters. These techniques need revision and simplification for use with short‐lived radionuclides such as those which may be useful for radioimmunotherapy. Analytic methods may have advantages over Monte Carlo methods in some cases (e.g., where time is important). Applications to eight different source geometries show the usefulness of these techniques. Comparisons of some of the results to Monte Carlo calculations prove its accuracy. For a uniform source of 5.867‐MeV alphas spread throughout the volume outside a cell surface, the two methods agree well. Results are within 1% both for the average specific energy and for the number of hits. Analytic microdosimetry provides an alternate method to use for the critical evaluation of models that seek to predict the relation between alpha energy deposition and cell survival data. Similarly, it may be helpful to point the way toward the rational interpretation of general biological results for antibodies labeled with alpha emitters.

Attitudes of African-American Baptist ministers toward AIDS

Abstract: Results from a survey of the attitudes of African-American Baptist ministers (N = 92) toward acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) revealed that most of the clergy did not perceive human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) as being a significant risk to their communities. Ministers who had previous HIV prevention/education training felt more comfortable counseling a person with AIDS and were more likely to sponsor workshops and training sessions for their members than were ministers who had not had previous HIV training. Ministers who held professional or college degrees were more likely to not believe that AIDS was a punishment by God and that people with AIDS deserved their illness than were their counterparts with less formal education. Older ministers tended to hold more pejorative attitudes toward homosexuals, HIV, and individuals infected with the virus than did their younger peers.

Elements of a psychology of human diversity

Abstract: Despite new movements in psychology that are supportive of human diversity, there is no general framework for relating significant social-psychological markers like gender, race, age, sexual orientation, and other aspects of human diversity to theory, research, and action in community psychology. This article reviews four perspectives that can contribute to a general psychology of human diversity: the population-specific psychologies (e.g., Asian-American psychology, the psychology of women, African-American psychology), sociopolitical perspectives (emphasizing historical, economic, and systems analysis and the dynamics of oppression), cross-cultural psychology (emphasizing culture, and inter- as well as intragroup methods), and ecological psychology (emphasizing the dynamics of specific settings and the people in them). Using tenets of social constructionist philosophy and an emphasis on social equity and cultural relativism to create a value stance, the relevant concepts from each perspective are discussed. The implications of this emerging diversity-conscious worldview for research, action, and theory in community psychology are also considered.

Maternal influences on infant hand-use during play with toys.

Abstract: Infant hand-use preferences are related to mother's, but not father's, handedness. Since infants match mother's hand-use during toy play, maternal handedness can affect infant hand-use. Twenty-eight mother-infant pairs (14 left-handed and 14 right-handed infants but all right-handed mothers) were videotaped while playing with six toys on the infant's 7-, 9-, and 11-month birthdays. Play was analyzed for five kinds of hand-use biasing situations, but maternal hand-use was the dominant influence. Infant matching of maternal hand-use increased with age and right-handed infants and female infants matched maternal hand-use more frequently. Concordance of hand-use preference between mother and infant seemed to account for both the matching and the stronger preferences of the right-handed compared to the left-handed infants.

Some African-American Perspectives on Black English Vernacular.

Abstract: Sixteen African Americans affiliated with a university participated in open-ended interviews exploring their experiential, attitudinal, and descriptive responses to Black English Vernacular (BEV). The fields of sociolinguistics and education report complex and contradictory attitudes and research findings regarding this code. In addition, media representations of BEV have been misleading. This article investigates how these sources have influenced the attitudes of these African Americans over the last 20 years. We found few trends and little unanimity among our respondents. This finding is neither problematic nor surprising. African Americans do not comprise a monolithic group, acting, speaking, and thinking as one. The results are summarized, and three issues that emerged from the interviews are discussed: problems with the label, Black English Vernacular; the possibility that BEV was socially constructed; and the perception that BEV is a limited linguistic system. (Sociolinguistics, education, attitudes toward language varieties, Black English Vernacular)

Spiral Waves in Integrate-and-Fire Neural Networks

Abstract: The formation of propagating spiral waves is studied in a randomly connected neural network composed of integrate-and-fire neurons with recovery period and excitatory connections using computer simulations. Network activity is initiated by periodic stimulation at a single point. The results suggest that spiral waves can arise in such a network via a sub-critical Hopf bifurcation.

Software Maintenance: 1990 status

Abstract: Results of a survey of the 1990 Software Maintenance Association Meeting and Conference attendees indicate a number of changes in software maintenance-related issues. Systems are ageing and growing in size. Software maintenance is separated from new systems development in more than half of the organizations. Over 45% of maintenance work is spent on functional enhancements. About three out of four organizations depend on specific individuals because no-one else can maintain particular systems and only 5% of organizations employ a formal method for determining when software should be rewritten. Responses describing major problems and preferred changes in DP organizations were classified into general categories and compared with previous similar studies. Trends show maturation of software maintenance toward a greater appreciation of maintenance and at least an intention of managers to improve the support of this activity.

Solving maximum likelihood equations for two-parameter software reliability models using grouped data

Abstract: Existence conditions are given for maximum likelihood parameter estimates for several commonly employed two-parameter software reliability models. For these models, the maximum likelihood equations can be expressed in terms of a single equation in one unknown. Bounds are given on solutions to these single equations problems to serve as initial intervals for search algorithms like bisection. Uniqueness of the solutions is established in some cases. Results are given for the case of grouped failure data. >