Showing papers by "Northwestern University published in 1977"

Learning and memory

Abstract: How the brain codes, stores, and retrieves memories is among the most important and baffling questions in science. The uniqueness of each human being is due largely to the memory store—the biological residue of memory from a lifetime of experience. The cellular basis of this ability to learn can be traced to simpler organisms. In the past generation, understanding of the biological basis of learning and memory has undergone a revolution. It is clear that various forms and aspects of learning and memory involve particular systems, networks, and circuits in the brain, and it now appears possible to identify these circuits, localize the sites of memory storage, and analyze the cellular and molecular mechanisms of memory.

Development of a test of speech intelligibility in noise using sentence materials with controlled word predictability.

Abstract: This paper describes a test of everyday speech reception, in which a listener’s utilization of the linguistic‐situational information of speech is assessed, and is compared with the utilization of acoustic‐phonetic information. The test items are sentences which are presented in babble‐type noise, and the listener response is the final word in the sentence (the key word) which is always a monosyllabic noun. Two types of sentences are used: high‐predictability items for which the key word is somewhat predictable from the context, and low‐predictability items for which the final word cannot be predicted from the context. Both types are included in several 50‐item forms of the test, which are balanced for intelligibility, key‐word familiarity and predictability, phonetic content, and length. Performance of normally hearing listeners for various signal‐to‐noise ratios shows significantly different functions for low‐ and high‐predictability items. The potential applications of this test, particularly in the assessment of speech reception in the hearing impaired, are discussed.

Focus groups and the nature of qualitative marketing research.

Abstract: Use of the focus group technique is widespread in qualitative marketing research. The technique is considered here from a philosophy of science perspective which points to a confusion of three dist...

Age Differences in Information Processing: A Perspective on the Aged Consumer:

Abstract: Literature pertaining to the effects of age differences indicates that elderly individuals and younger adults process information differently. Age differences result in a complex set of changes in ...

From Institution to Occupation Trends in Military Organization

Abstract: Te military can be understood as a social organization which maintains levels of autonomy while refracting broader societal trends. It is from this perspective that we apply a developmental analysis to the emergent structure of the armed forces. Developmental analysis entails historical reconstruction, trend specification, and, most especially, a model of a future state of affairs toward which actual events are heading.I Developmental analysis, that is, emphasizes the &dquo;from here to there&dquo; sequence of present and hypothetical events. Stated in a slightly different way, a developmental construct is a &dquo;pure type&dquo; placed at some future point by which we may ascertain and order the emergent reality of contemporary social phenomena. Models derived from developmental analysis bridge the empirical world of today with the social forms of the future. Put plainly, what is the likely shape of the military in the foreseeable future?

Alcohol consumption, cardiovascular risk factors, and mortality in two Chicago epidemiologic studies.

Abstract: Multivariate analysis of the association at baseline between problem drinking and cardiovascular risk factors among 1,233 white male employees of the Chicago Peoples Gas Company age 40-59 showed the 38 problem drinkers with significantly higher blood pressures and cigarette consumption and significantly lower relative weights than the others. Similar analysis among 1,899 white male employees of the Hawthorne Works of the Western Electric Company in Chicago age 40-55 showed the 117 men consuming 5 or more drinks per day with significantly higher blood pressures and cigarette use than the others. No significant differences were recorded between heavy drinkers and the others in serum cholesterol level. The gas company problem drinkers had significantly higher 15-year mortality rates from all causes, cardiovascular diseases, coronary heart disease, and sudden death. These differences could not be entirely explained by their blood pressure, smoking, and relative weight status. The Western Electric heavy drinkers had increased 10-year mortality rates both for all causes and noncardiovascular causes.

Escalation: The Determinants of Commitment to a Chosen Course of Action

Abstract: Previous research has shown that individuals are most likely to escalate the amount of resources committed to a course of action when they have been personally responsible for negative consequences. The present study examined the process of escalation over three points in time and under four experimental conditions. A 2 X 2 X 3 factorial experiment was conducted in which personal responsibility, efficacy of resources, and time were the independent variables, and commitment of resources to a course of action was the dependent variable. The results replicated the escalation effect over an immediate time period, but showed that investment of resources in a course of action was not stable over time. Although there were immediate effects of personal responsibility and efficacy of resources upon escalation behavior, these two variables interacted with the time factor.

Exchange Systems in Prehistory

Abstract: Thirty years ago today (and then some), Exchange Systems in Prehistory (Earle and Ericson 1977) was published. The editors of the present volume offered me the chance to consider how exchange studies have grown over the last generation and what major challenges lie ahead. My plan is to summarize briefly the state of the field in the 1970s and then trace briefly major forward movements leading to this first decade of the twenty-first century. Rather than review the countless studies and stream of useful books and articles on the topic, I offer thoughts on where we have come from and where we must go (Earle 1994, 1999). We have solved many analytical problems with source identification and have learned to view exchange as a means to form and maintain social and power relationships, but challenges remain ahead. We are just beginning to model the complex and conflicting ways in which elites and commoners in opposition and in collaboration used exchange in their daily lives and on special occasions. The present volume points directions in our path toward a more integrated view of economy and society.

Malignant fibrous histiocytoma. An electron microscopic study.

Abstract: Sixteen cases of malignant fibrous histiocytoma are presented. Electron microscopy of 15 cases demonstrated fibroblast-like and mononuclear and multinucleated histiocyte-like cells. A small capillary was at the center of all storiform areas examined. Ultrastructural examination can be diagnostically useful within the context of a narrow differential diagnosis by conventional microscopy and the ability, by electron microscopy, to eliminate other mesenchymal cell types. In 13 cases, follow-up information was available from 18 months to 9 years following histological diagnosis. Five patients are alive and 8 patients have died, including two non-tumor related deaths. In 3 cases follow-up was less than 4 months. The biologic behavior of the tumor in this series was generally not related to histopathological parameters. The issue of histogenesis is largely unresolvable. Ultrastructural studies of various types of fibrous histiocytomas, suggesting cells of origin other than histiocytes, give credence to the concept that the histiocyte may represent a morphologic state of a given mesenchymal cell rather than a particular cell type.

Trimellitic anhydride-induced airway syndromes: Clinical and immunologic studies

Abstract: This report describes a spectrum of respiratory symptoms in workers exposed to trimellitic anhydride (TMA), a biologically reactive chemical used in the plastics industry. Fourteen workers who had worked on a unit which synthesized TMA were evaluated by clinical and immunologic methods. Respiratory syndromes induced by TMA inhalation included asthma and rhinitis of the immediate type, late onset asthma with systemic symptoms, and airway irritation. TMA was shown to couple rapidly to human serum albumin, forming an immunoreactive hapten-protein complex. The workers' immunologic reactivity to this complex could be quantitated and correlated with the three respiratory syndromes. The asthma-rhinitis syndrome was mediated by IgE antibody specific for the TMA hapten. The syndrome of late onset asthma with systemic symptoms was accompanied by elevated levels of TMA-specific IgG antibody. Rheumatoid factor in high titer was found in one worker with IgE-mediated asthma and in two workers with asthma of late onset. Lymphocyte reactivity of TMA-HSA was demonstrated in three workers representative of the three clinical syndromes. Leukocyte histamine release was demonstrated to TMA-HSA in one worker with high levels of IgE antibody specific for TMA-HSA who had severe symptoms of acute rhinitis and asthma.

Macrolides. Recent progress in chemistry and biochemistry.

Abstract: The progress of macrolide chemistry and biochemistry over the past several years has indeed been remarkable. This review attempts to cover the important contributions which have been made in the fields of structural and synthetic chemistry as well as in the biosynthesis and mode of antimicrobial activity of the “polyoxo” macrolide antibiotics. Emphasis has been placed on the recent synthetic achievements in this field.

Obesity, dieting, and the expression of "obese" characteristics.

Abstract: Obese,normal, and underweight college-age subjects were divided into sub-groups of dieters and nondieters. Consumption following a preload was found to vary as a function of dieting, not obesity, with dieters exhibiting the "obese" response (absence of caloric compensation) irrespective of weight classification. Similarly, elevated levels of free fatty acids, normally found in the obese, were associated with dieting rather than obesity per se. Implications of these findings for current theories of obesity are discussed.

On the Growth of Steam Droplets Formed in a Laval Nozzle Using both Static Pressure and Light Scattering Measurements

Abstract: : A series of experiments on steam condensation have been made in a Laval nozzle over a variety of starting conditions such that the onset of condensation occurs in the range -40 to 40 C. The homogeneous nucleation and growth of the new phase is documented with both static pressure and laser light scattering. Since even at onset the majority of the condensed phase is due to droplet growth the nucleation and growth are coupled and the availability of two measured quantities is helpful in comparing a particular combination of nucleation rate and growth law. For detailed calculations on one of the experiments there is excellent agreement with both measurements throughout the condensation zone and a theoretical calculation using the classical nucleation rate expression due to Volmer and a droplet growth law due to Gyarmathy.

Stochastic process for extrapolating concrete creep

Abstract: Creep of concrete is modeled as a process with independent increments of locally gamma distribution. The process is transformed to a stationary gamma process. The mean prediction agrees with the deterministic double power law established previously. Infinite divisibility of the increment distribution is assumed. This is justified by additivity of deformations and of stresses, and also by considerations of the microscopic mechanism of creep, assuming creep to be due to migrations of widely spaced solid particles along micropore passages whose length is statistically distributed. The treatment of creep as a stochastic process allows extracting considerable information from measurements even on one specimen, although a greater number of specimens is preferable. The main use of the model is in extrapolation of short time creep data into long times, and calculation of confidence limits. Methods of determining process parameters from creep test data are given. Monte Carlo simulations demonstrate reasonable agreement with test data.

Hellfire and Delinquency Revisited

Abstract: While Hirschi and Stark conclude that religiosity is unrelated to delinquency, their findings and a replication of their study in the Pacific Northwest (Burkett and White) may not be generalizable to other areas of the country. Using self-report data from 1,383 Atlanta tenth graders in 1970, we found a moderate negative relationship between church attendance and delinquent behavior. Our data also suggest a causal structure in which respect for the juvenile court system links church attendance with delinquency. We suspect that church attendance may be a truer reflection of adolescents' religious experience in the South than the West, so accounting for the differences between our findings and those of previous research. Social scientists have long been interested in the relationship between religiosity and delinquent behavior. Some have argued that religion is a deterrent to delinquency, whereas others assert that religion promotes delinquent behavior due to the perceived insincerity of church leaders, the ethnocentrism of denominationalism, and the identification of the church with society's power structure (Gannon). Research findings have been equally conflicting. Glueck and Glueck, Nye, and Travers and Davis found that children who attended church regularly or had a higher degree of "religious intensity" were less likely to be delinquent than non-attenders or those having a lower degree of religious intensity. On the other hand, Kvaraceus concluded that there were no significant differences between the proportion of delinquents in the general population (New Jersey) and among those who were active church members. Since these early studies are generally unsophisticated methodologically, they are often inadequate for testing the relationship between religiosity and delinquent behavior. Hirschi and Stark's research does not suffer these same limitations. Their analysis revealed that church attendance was unrelated to delinquent behavior. They concluded that the commonsense notion which regards religion as a deterrent to delinquency is simply wrong. They also found that one set of variables, which they called measures of acceptance of moral values (e.g., respect for the police), was negatively related to delinquency, but unrelated or weakly related to church attendance. Therefore, they argued that previous researchers who did find modest, negative relationships between church attendance and delinquent behavior should have explored possible causal structures that might have linked the two, rather than assuming a simple and direct causal structure. A recent partial replication (Burkett and White) of Hirschi and Stark's research essentially corroborates their finding of no relationship between religiosity

Multiple comparisons in model i one-way anova with unequal variances

Abstract: A fixed effects one-way layout model of analysis of variance is considered where the variances are taken to be possibly unequal. Conservative single-stage procedures based on Banerjee’s method for the solution of the Behrens-Fisher problem are proposed for the following multiple comparisons problems: 1) all pairwise comparisons with a control population mean, and 2) all pairwise comparisons and all linear contrasts among the means. Since these procedures are likely to be very conservative in practice, approximate procedures based on Welch’s method for the solution of the Behrens-Fisher problem are suggested as alternatives. Monte Carlo studies indicate that the latter are much less conservative and hence may be better in practice. Both these sets of procedures need only the tables of the Student’s t-distribution for their application and are very simple to use. Exact two-stage procedures are proposed for the following multiple comparisons problems: 1) all pairwise comparisons and all linear contrasts amon...