Showing papers by "Georgia State University published in 1983"

The communication effects of controversial sexual content in television programs and commercials

Abstract: An experiment utilizing television commercials and programs was employed to examine the effect of controversial sexual content on the communication effectiveness of advertising messages. Three measures of communication effectiveness were employed: interest in commercial, affect toward product, and purchase intent. Results of the experiment suggest controversial sexual content affect the communication effectiveness of advertising in a complex manner. Controversial sexual content in the commercial failed to improve effectiveness, apart from merely making the commercial more interesting, while controversial sexual program content influenced the processing of advertising messages for males but not for females. However, the presence of a significant commercial-by-program interaction for males suggests the actual effect of controversial content in the program environment depends upon the level of controversy present in the commercial.

Religiosity and Delinquency

Abstract: This article explores the contradictory findings that have characterized the relationship between religion and delinquency. The data are based on interviews with 600 adolescents attending public school in the Atlanta, Georgia area. A wide variety of religious and delinquency measures were used, allowing a complete examination of the relationship. The existence of a weak to moderate negative zero-order relationship was verified. Religious salience, belief in the power of personal prayer, and orthodoxy were found to be related more strongly to delinquency than the most often-used variable, church attendance. Most important, in spite of the relatively strong zero-order relationship between a number of religiosity and delinquency measures, within a multivariate context religion's contribution as an independent variable was not statistically significant. Possible explanations for this finding are discussed.

The Role of Religious Values in Coping with Cancer

Abstract: The relationship between transcendent meaning attribution, religious orientation, and psychological well-being was studied in cancer and noncancer patients to test the hypotheses that intrinsic religious values and life meaning enhance coping and well-being during the course of the life-threatening illness. Subjects were 44 patients receiving medical treatment for cancer and noncancer medical conditions. In the cancer group, higher levels of attributed life meaning were positively linked with intrinsic religious orientation, and associated with lower levels of despiar, anger-hostility, and social isolation. Cancer patients scored higher than noncancer patients on depersonalization, suggesting the presence of psychic numbing in response to their illness. Noncancer group results were characterized by positive correlations between the two groups in coping styles and salience of life meaning attribution. A rationale for the observed differences in coping styles between the two groups is presented, highlighting perceived life threat as a key differentiating variable.

Stable Distributions and the Mixtures of Distributions Hypotheses for Common Stock Returns

Abstract: The form of the distribution underlying common stock returns has many implications for financial modeling. Among the frequently proposed models for stock return distributions is the family of stable distributions. Numerous studies of stock return distributions have also proposed various types of mixtures of normal distributions. This article examines the characteristics of several different combinations of mixtures of normal and stable distributions, and compares them with actual stock price distributions. The principal tests applied are based on the stability-under-addition property of stable distributions.

Chemical Constraints and Origins of Four Groups of Gulf Coast Reservoir Fluids

Abstract: Pitzer's method for computing activity coefficients has been applied to reported fluid compositions in four groups of Gulf Coast reservoirs: the Mississippi and Arkansas Smackover Formation, the Texas Edwards Group, The Texas Frio Formation, and the Louisiana Miocene sequence The activity quotients in fluids from carbonate reservoirs imply a reaction relation between calcite and disordered dolomite, in which ordering increases at higher temperatures This relationship indicates that an increasing Mg:Ca molality ratio with decreasing temperature does not necessarily imply dolomite dissolution by an updip-moving fluid Instead, it may reflect an approach to equilibrium between calcite and metastable dolomite Activity quotients in fluids from clastic reservoirs imply a rea tion relation between chlorite, illite, potassium feldspar, and quartz at temperatures above 100°C (212°F) Present fluid compositions in the Smackover and the Edwards appear to be related to the updip movement of Louann brines from the Gulf Coast basin, accompanied by dolomitization In particular, bromide plots for the Edwards fluids indicate simple dilution of Louann brines with interstitial fluids Similar plots for fluids from the Smackover show the complicating effects of illite formation, sylvite dissolution, and halite recrystallization Albitization may have occurred during fluid movement through clastics prior to entering the Smackover and Edwards Present fluid compositions in the Frio and Miocene are apparently not related to Louann brines The compositional data reflect the effects of halite dissolution, the subsequent albitization of plagioclase and potassium feldspar, and the dissolution of carbonates during secondary porosity formation

Accumulation of PCBs, mercury, and cadmium by Nereis virens, Mercenaria mercenaria, and Palaemonetes pugio from contaminated harbor sediments

Abstract: Accumulation of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), mercury, and cadmium by sandworms ( Nereis virens ), hard clams ( Mercenaria mercenaria ) and grass shrimp ( Palaemonetes pugio ) exposed to contaminated sediments from four sites in New York Harbor was studied for a 100-day period. Of the three contaminants monitored, only PCBs were found to bioaccumulate above background (control) concentrations. Small increases in PCB body burden were detected in M. mercenaria and P. pugio , whereas higher concentrations were measured in N. virens . Uptake was affected by the organic content of the sediment. Bioaccumulation factors (concentration in tissue/concentration in sediment) for N. virens ranged from 1.59 in a low organic sediment to 0.15 in a high organic sediment. Results from this study support the contention that sediment concentration alone does not reflect bioavailability and that toxicity tests (bioassays) and field monitoring remain the most direct method for estimating bioaccumulation potential of sediment-bound contaminants.

Response characteristics of an ebb-dominated tidal inlet channel

Abstract: A three-year study (July 1974 to July 1977) of Price Inlet, South Carolina, monitored inlet hydraulics and channel morphology. The inlet is strongly ebb-dominant. Both the peak and mean current velocities during ebb exceed the corresponding velocities during flood. The velocity asymmetry is caused by changes in inlet efficiency during the tidal cycle. The intertidal marsh of the Price Inlet drainage area experiences a change in open water surface area of about 670 percent during an average tidal cycle. At high tide, the large water surface of the marsh is responsible for inefficient exchange of water through the inlet. This causes a long time lag between ocean and bay tides. The small surface area of open water in the marsh at low tide, on the other hand, yields nearly no time lag. These differential time lags cause longer flood durations than ebb durations in the inlet throat and, consequently, stronger ebb elocities. Monitoring of the cross-sectional flow area of the inlet throat demonstrates rapid adjustment to changing flow conditions. The 1159 m2 cross sectional area of the inlet throat varied as much as 8.3 percent during one tidal cycle. The cross sectional area varied in phase with the tidal range. Long-term changes in the dimensions of the channel appear to be a direct result of changes in the size of ebb-tidal delta shoals. During the study period, the growth of the linear bars in the channel margin gradually reduced wave energy along the inlet shoreline and on the inner ebb-tidal delta platform. This in turn reduced sediment transport into the inlet, which resulted in a gradual increase in the cross-sectional area of the channel. Seasonal fluctuations in mean sea level appear t have little effect on the inlet channel.

Issues in fuzzy production systems

Abstract: The purpose of this study is to examine some critical issues in the development of practical knowledge-based systems using fuzzy logic and related techniques. Eight current and proposed implementations of such systems have been selected for study in order to provide a context for examining the following three general topic areas: the overall structure and application of the system; the nature and locus of uncertainty; and the representation of the logical implication (If-Then) operator. Our goal is not to determine which treatment of these issues is best overall, but rather to draw from such practical experience as currently exists to begin mapping out the advantages and disadvantages of each option relative to the specific structure of the application being addressed. The eight fuzzy knowledge-based systems selected are not intended as a complete survey of a rapidly-growing field, but only to provide a sampling from the wide variety of ways in which fuzzy logic can be used to represent and process various sorts of inexact knowledge.

Computing lag sequential statistics: The ELAG program

Abstract: ELAG, a FORTRAN program that computes lag sequential statistics from event sequence data, is described, and its use is demonstrated. ELAG lets the user specify positive or negative lags of any length, whether codes may follow themselves or not, and whether z scores are to be computed as suggested by Allison and Liker (1982) or by Sackett (1980). Data sequences for individual subjects need not be continuous but can be broken into separate observations. Summary statistics for different groups of subjects may be printed. In addition, the initial data may be modified. The user may specify that an instance of one of a group of codes or of a particular two-code sequence is to be replaced with a new code before ELAG proceeds with its computations.

Nucleic Acid Relatedness Among Yeasts

Abstract: The yeasts are a phylogenetically diverse group of fungi whose teleomorphs are distributed between the Ascomycotina and the Basidiomycotina. The grouping is one of convenience, bound together by the characteristics of predominantly unicellular growth resulting from either budding or fission and a sexual stage unenclosed in a fruiting body. The criteria accepted for use in speciation have, over time, paralleled many other areas of microbiology, first relying on the morphology of vegetative and sexual stages, followed later by definition of taxa through biochemical and genetic tests, and finally, owing to a partial failure of the foregoing to produce definitive results, a reliance on nucleic acid sequence relatedness.

Behavioral Coaching in Classical Ballet Enhancing Skill Development

Abstract: A review of the literature indicates the usefulness of operant methods to develop or enhance sports skills. This study extended the use of this approach to the acquisition of correct ballet skills by four subjects in a ballet class. Using a single case design, behavioral coaching was compared to the ballet instructor's method. Four ballet barre exercises (degage, frappe, developpe, and grand battement) were selected as the dependent variables. Execution of all four ballet skills increased from an average of 13% under the ballet instructor's method to a performance of 88% under the behavioral coaching. These results indicate that behavioral procedures are applicable to modifying artistic and creative behaviors such as those found in the fine arts.

The effect of peer separation in young chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)

Abstract: Ten chimpanzees (Pan troglogytes), aged 18-24 months, housed without mothers as two dyads and two triads, were subjected to social separation. Two issues were addressed: the effects of peer separation in chimpanzees; and differential responses by subjects living in dyads compared with those living in triads. Chimpanzees that were alone during separation reacted with high levels of "protest" alternating with "despair" throughout the separation period. The continued presence of one cagemate, during separation from a third, was a strong mitigating factor. Even when the primary attachment was formed with the absent cagemate, the remaining chimpanzees clung to each other and the levels of protest and despair, when present, were low. Upon reunion, neither "detachment" nor heightened levels of clinging were conspicuous, but there was increased social interaction. The data on separation of chimpanzees are intermediate between those of humans and monkeys separated from mothers or peers. The increased social interactions during reunion, including looking, are comparable to the visual vigilance reported for humans.

OCS Leasing and Auctions: Incentives and the Performance of Alternative Bidding Institutions

Abstract: In Watt v. Energy Action Educational Foundation, the Supreme Court rebutted a challenge to the federal government's mix of "nontraditional" outer continental shelf lease-auction mechanisms authorized under the 1978 OCS Amendments. The issues of this case addressed here include: the economic intent of the congressional language; incentive properties of various of the authorized auction processes; methodological shortcomings inherent in the implicit congressional directive for field experimentation; and, the usefulness of laboratory experimental economics in answering relevant auction-policy questions. The discussion of experimental economics includes evidence already gained from laboratory experiments relating to hypotheses about auction-market performance.

Renters' Illusion or Savvy?

Abstract: A frequent finding in the local public finance literature is that renters are more likely to support expansions in the local budget than are homeowners. The renters' illusion hypothesis (renters are less aware of tax increases than are homeowners) has been commonly used to explain this behavior This article examines the alternative hypothesis of renters' rationality. It is argued that renters' behavior is a rational and selfish response to a fiscal environment that provides them, as a group, with larger net benefits than it doesfor homeowners. I use bond referendum data to show that, even when renters and homeowners of the same income level are assumed to receive the same net benefits, it is erroneous to interpret the stronger support by renters of the proposals, as previous literature has, as a manifestation of fiscal illusion. The article also makes an attempt to estimate different net benefits from the referendum for renters and homeowners of different income levels.

Reframing and paradoxical instruction to overcome "resistance" in the treatment of delinquent youths: a multiple baseline analysis.

Abstract: Description, sous l'appellation de «recadrage» d'une tactique therapeutique destinee a changer la signification ou le cadre communement associes a une situation particuliere. Cette strategie utilise essentiellement la technique de l'instruction paradoxale, a savoir la prescription therapeutique d'un comportement symptomatique, en face d'un refus de traitement psychotherapique. Etude de correlation multiple a partir du cas de trois adolescents delinquants

Algorithm 598: an algorithm to compute solvent of the matrix equation AX2 + BX + C = 0

Abstract: a n d we s eek a m a t r i x S such t h a t F ( S ) = O. S u c h a m a t r i x S is c a l l ed a solvent . M u c h o f w h a t is k n o w n a b o u t s o l v e n t s a n d t h e i r c a l c u l a t i o n c a n b e f o u n d in L a n c a s t e r [7], a n d t h e w o r k s o f Denn i s , T r a u b , a n d W e b e r [2, 3]. T h i s F O R T R A N p a c k a g e i m p l e m e n t s t h e i d e a s in [1], w h e r e s o m e p e r t u r b a t i o n t h e o r y a n d a n e r r o r ana lys i s a r e p r e s e n t e d . F i n d i n g a s o l v e n t o f F is c lose ly r e l a t e d to t h e q u a d r a t i c e i genva lue p r o b l e m of f ind ing sca l a r s ~ a n d n o n z e r o v e c t o r s x s u c h t h a t

Attitudes Toward Pornography in a Southern Community

Abstract: * * * The Supreme Court has determined that obscene speech should not be protected under the First Amendment, but an unambiguous definition of obscenity is required if negative legal sanctions are to be enforced without jeopardizing due process. According to current guidelines, a media presentation of sexually explicit materials must exceed limits of sexual candor to be defined obscene. However, establishing such limits requires articulation of a normative standard for a specified population—a population defined by the court as being a community. The present research is designed to identify such limits of sexual candor within a community in the South. The results demonstrate the existence of ambiguity in the articulation of community standards. First, little consistency is found between personal standards and the perceptions of community standards. This lack of consistency presents a problem for jury deliberation since a single frame of reference is not available to guide jurors in reaching decisions on obscenity. Second, both perceptions of community standards and personal standards are significantly influenced by extracommunity factors of sex, age, race, education, religiosity, and moral rigidity. Existence of such effects raises the additional question of jury bias in the event that there is an overrepresentation of any one segment of the community on a jury.

Agency Triangles: Problems in Agency‐Family Relationships

Abstract: This article focuses on ways in which helping agents, including family therapists, become part of the problem they are treating. Particular emphasis is placed on triangular patterns that frequently develop when one agency involves another in carrying out its functions and in diffusing conflict with a client and his or her family. We refer to this process as an agency triangle. Case examples of such triangles involving various service systems (e.g., schools, courts, mental health centers) are presented, followed by discussion of how agency triangles can be prevented.

Problem solving in the rat: Septal lesion effects on habituation and perseverative tendencies

Abstract: The performance deficit that typically occurs on Maier’s three-table spatial integration task following septal damage was examined with the view towards relating it to lesion-induced alterations in exploratory activity during the exploration phase of the task. Septals, unlike shams, failed to habituate (i.e., reduce the rate of sector entry behavior) during the 15-min exploration period. However, this failure to habituate was not the sole basis of the septal deficit on the spatial integration aspect of the task, since some animals that did habituate also failed to adopt the spatial solution. Unlike shams, septals tended to perseverate a turning response, not only on each of the three daily test trials, but also from day to day. This perseverative tendency was unresponsive to its consequences. Since the perseverative tendency did not correlate with any response bias expressed during the exploration phase of the task, it was regarded as the septal animal’s adaptation to the test trial situation.

Directional Effects in Transformation Tasks

Abstract: This study concerned the effects of transformation type and direction on students' understanding of transformations. First, third, and fifth graders (51 girls and 54 boys) with no instruction on transformations were tested on slide, flip, and turn tasks. A significant type-by-direction interaction seemed due to the difficulty of diagonal transformations. Slide tasks seemed easiest regardless of direction, whereas the ordering by difficulty of flip and turn tasks depended on direction. The main effect for sex was not significant. The results suggested that the direction of the transformation should be considered in the curriculum and in research on spatial visualization.

Day-after Recall of Listerine Corrective Commercials:

Abstract: The communication effectiveness of Listerine corrective advertising was assessed through unaided and aided recall measures. The four day-after recall tests revealed that insertion of a corrective m...

The Quality of Research Articles in the "Journal of Educational Research," 1970 and 1980.

Abstract: The empirical articles in the Journal of Educational Research in 1970 and 1980 were analyzed in order to determine if there were qualitative differences. Several quality indicators were used including statistics, focus of study, external funding, type of study, type of explanation, and reference characteristics. Improvement was found in eight of thirteen indicators.