Showing papers by "State University of New York System published in 1983"

Organizational Life Cycles and Shifting Criteria of Effectiveness: Some Preliminary Evidence

Abstract: This paper discusses the relationships between stage of development in organizational life cycles and organizational effectiveness. We begin the paper by reviewing nine models of organizational life cycles that have been proposed in the literature. Each of these models identifies certain characteristics that typify organizations in different stages of development. A summary model of life cycle stages is derived that integrates each of these nine models. Next, a framework of organizational effectiveness developed by Quinn and Rohrbaugh is introduced. This framework organizes criteria of effectiveness into four models-rational goal, open systems, human relations, and internal processes models. We hypothesize that certain of the models are important in evaluating the effectiveness of organizations in particular life cycle stages but not in others. The analysis of a state agency's development over five years provides some evidence to support these hypothesized relationships between life cycle stages and criteria of effectiveness. We conclude that major criteria of effectiveness change in predictable ways as organizations develop through their life cycles. Some shifts in state of development are resisted by the organization much more than are others, and intervention into organizations may be needed to help make the transitions less painful and costly. We also discuss why the predictions of contingency theory often are not substantiated by research because the responses of organizations to the external environment vary in different life cycle stages.

Senile macular degeneration: a case-control study.

Abstract: Senile macular degeneration, although a leading cause of visual loss in the United States, remains a poorly understood disease. To assess the effects of host and environmental factors on this condition, a study of 228 cases and 237 controls matched by age and sex, who had visited any of 34 Baltimore ophthalmologists between September 1, 1978 and March 31, 1980, was conducted. Study participants were interviewed for past medical, residential, occupational, smoking and family histories, as well as social and demographic factors. Diagnoses were validated by means of fundus photographs. The 162 cases and 175 controls who met the study diagnostic criteria for cases and controls were included in the analysis. Statistically significant associations were demonstrated between senile macular degeneration and family history of macular disease (odds ratio (OR) = 2.9), chemical work exposures (OR = 4.2), blue or medium pigmented eyes (OR = 3.5), history of one or more cardiovascular diseases (OR = 1.7), decreased hand grip strength, and hyperopia. The risk of macular degeneration in cigarette smokers was significant for males only (OR = 2.6). The study results suggest that the development of macular degeneration is mainly influenced by familial, genetic, and personal characteristics, rather than by the few environmental factors studied. Additional studies are needed to further evaluate the role of environmental factors.

A two-pyroxene thermometer

Abstract: Experimentally determined pyroxene phase relations at 800-1200 C are combined with calculated phase equilibria for the Di-En and Hd-Fs joins to yield a graphical two-pyroxene thermometer that should be suitable for a wide variety of rocks from the earth, the moon, and meteorites. The thermometer can be used directly with natural pyroxenes having low contents of Al and other minor components. Samples having higher contents of 'other' components require special projection onto the Ca-Mg-Fe pyroxene quadrilateral; Wo, En, and Fs as normally calculated will not yield correct temperatures. The special projection is required to approximate the activities of those components in natural pyroxenes. Whereas the effects of pressure are nonnegligible, they can be corrected for. It is pointed out that use of the thermometer for slowly cooled rocks may pose special problems if the pyroxenes have undergone granule exsolution (coalescence of exsolved material to form separate grains).

Threshold models of diffusion and collective behavior

Abstract: (1983). Threshold models of diffusion and collective behavior. The Journal of Mathematical Sociology: Vol. 9, No. 3, pp. 165-179.

Effect of iron therapy on behavior performance in nonanemic, iron-deficient infants.

Abstract: In an effort to determine whether iron deficiency, in the absence of anemia (hemoglobin greater than 110 g/dL), might produce alterations in behavioral development, four groups of nonanemic infants, 9 to 12 months of age, with varying degrees of iron deficiency were studied Infants were classified as iron sufficient, iron depleted, or iron deficient based on measurements of serum ferritin concentration, erythrocyte protoporphyrin values, and the mean cell volume of erythrocytes Subjects in each group were tested with the Bayley Mental Development Index, treated with parenteral iron, and retested seven days later The administration of iron produced a significant increase in the Mental Development Index scores (+216 points) in the infants with iron deficiency but no significant change in the scores of infants with iron sufficiency (+62 points) or only iron depletion (+56 points) It is concluded that iron deficiency, even in the absence of anemia, results in biochemical alterations that impair behavior in infants

Nucleotide sequence of cloned cDNA of human c- myc oncogene

Abstract: Like other transforming genes of retro viruses, the v-myc gene of the avian virus, MC29, has a homologue in the genome of normal eukaryotic cells. The human cellular homologue, c-myc, located on human chromosome 8, region q24→qter (refs 1, 2), is translocated into the immunoglobulin heavy-chain locus on human chromosome 14 (ref. 3) in Burkitt's lymphoma1,4,5, suggesting that c-myc has a primary role in transformation of some human haematopoietic cells. In addition, c-myc is amplified in the human promyelocytic leukaemia cell line, HL60 (refs 6, 7) which also contains high levels of c-myc mRNA8. Recently, Colby et al.9 reported the nucleotide sequence of the human c-myc DNA isolated from a genomic recombinant DNA library derived from human fetal liver10. This 4,053-base pair (bp) sequence includes two exons and one intron of the myc gene, and the authors have suggested the existence of a human c-myc mRNA of 2,291 nucleotides that has a coding capacity for a protein of molecular weight (Mr) 48,812. We have approached the problem of accurately defining the characteristics of the human c-myc mRNA and c-myc protein by determining the sequence of the c-myc cDNA isolated from a cDNA library prepared from mRNA of a clone of the K562 human leukaemic cell line11. K562 cells are known to contain c-myc mRNA which is similar in size to the c-myc mRNA of other human cell types8. We report here the sequence of 2,121 nucleotides of a human c-myc mRNA and demonstrate that its 5′ noncoding sequence does not correspond to the sequence of the reported genomic human sequence. However, our data confirm that the intact human c-myc mRNA can encode a 48,812-Mr protein with a sequence identical to that reported by Colby et al.9.

Diversity ALOHA--A Random Access Scheme for Satellite Communications

Abstract: A generalization of the slotted ALOHA random access scheme is considered in which a user transmits multiple copies of the same packet. The multiple copies can be either transmitted simultaneously on different frequency channels (frequency diversity) or they may be transmitted on a single high-speed channel but spaced apart by random time intervals (time diversity). In frequency diversity, two schemes employing channel selections with and without replacements have been considered. In time diversity, two schemes employing a fixed number of copies or a random number of copies for each packet have been considered. In frequency diversity, activity factor-throughput tradeoffs and in time diversity, delay-throughput tradeoffs for various diversity orders have been compared. It is found that under light traffic, multiple transmission gives better delay performance. If the probability that a packet fails a certain number or more times is specified not to exceed some time limit (realistic requirement for satellite systems having large round trip propagation delay), then usually multiple transmission gives higher throughput.

Women's health issues.

Abstract: Issues related to women's physical health and health care reflect the broader concerns of women who must function within systems that have been constructed by and for men. The health care system in this country is still very much a male-dominated institution in which the demands on women to fit a male model are especially cogent (Lee, 1975). Because women traditionally have had primary responsibility for the care of children and for the ill and aging in their families, they typically assume greater responsibility in health matters than do men. Yet there is evidence that women as a group, and particularly women of limited educational, social, and economic resources, encounter significant obstacles to obtaining adequate diagnosis and treatment of medical disorders. From a prevention perspective also, less attention has been paid to the health risks of women than to those of men.

Cooperation—A Biologist's Dilemma

Abstract: Publisher Summary This chapter discusses on aid-giving or cooperation. It evaluates the role of indirect fitness in certain cases that seem favorable for it, and discusses the determinants of cooperation when only direct fitness is involved. Some possible factors are suggested that emerge from a comparative survey of helping behavior in birds and mammals. The chapter examines the set of tactics followed by an immature or maturing individual of a species in gaining and keeping breeding status as its dispersal strategy. The range of options for an individual is illustrated. The history of an individual may be described as a sequence of social states that begins at birth and tends to move toward breeder. The chapter explains the diversity among species in degree of sociality in the perspective of the individual's ontogenetic sequence. Emphasis is given on the conceptual framework. The discussion is intended primarily for the species with helpers.

Remission of rapidly growing desmoid tumors after tamoxifen therapy

Abstract: A patient is described with Gardner's syndrome manifested initially by an extra-abdominal desmoid which was resected. The case was complicated by metastatic adenocarcinoma of the colon and recurrence of several large painful desmoid lesions. In view of the predilection of desmoids to occur in women in their childbearing years, it was decided to treat these painful lesions with an anti-estrogen, tamoxifen (20 mg orally, four times daily). This therapy led to a complete relief of pain within 1 week and a progressive decrease in the size of the desmoid tumors to less than 50% of their initial volume by the end of the second week. Unfortunately, the patient's metastatic adenocarcinoma progressed and was complicated by sepsis leading to her death. This case suggests that the growth of desmoid tumors is under hormonal influence, a suggestion which deserves further investigation.

Computation of electron repulsion integrals using the Rys quadrature method

Abstract: Following an earlier proposal to evaluate electron repulsion integrals over Gaussian basis functions by a numerical quadrature based on a set of orthogonal polynomials (Rys polynomials), a computational procedure is outlined for efficient evaluation of the two-dimensional integrals Ix, Iy, and Iz. Compact recurrence formulas for the integrals make the method particularly fitted to handle high-angular-momentum basis functions. The technique has been implemented in the HONDO molecular orbital program.

Topological Soliton Bag Model for Baryons

Abstract: Furnishing Skyrme's chiral soliton with a quark-bag core appears to generate a qualitative advance in the phenomenology of nucleon structure.

Coagulation Equations with Gelation

Abstract: Smoluchowski's equation for rapid coagulation is used to describe the kinetics of gelation, in which the coagulation kernel Kij models the bonding mechanism. For different classes of kernels we derive criteria for the occurrence of gelation, and obtain critical exponents in the pre- and postgelation stage in terms of the model parameters; we calculate bounds on the time of gelation to, and give an exact postgelation solution for the model K,j = (/j)'~ (~0 > 1/2) and Kq = a i+j (a > 1). For the model Kig = i '~ +j~ (w < 1, without gelation) initial solutions are given. It is argued that the kernel Kij~(/j') '~ with ~0~ 1 - l/d (d is dimensionality) effectively models the sol-gel transformation in polymerizing systems and approximately accounts for the effects of cross-linking and steric hindrance neglected in the classical theory of Flory and Stockmayer (o~ = 1). For all ~o the exponents, T = ~0 + 3/2 and o = ~ - 1/2, y = (3/2 - o~)/(o~ - 1/2) and /3 = 1, characterize the size distribution, at and slightly below the gel point, under the assumption that scaling is valid.

Articulated thoughts during simulated situations: A paradigm for studying cognition in emotion and behavior.

Abstract: In spite of the widespread belief of cognitive behavior therapists and researchers that irrational thinking underlies much human psychological suffering, there is little if any direct evidence bearing on the assumption that people think in particular ways when confronted with stressful situations. A paradigm is proposed that appears capable of providing information about people's articulated thoughts as they occur in highly structured, experimenter-controlled situations. The results from an initial experiment indicate the utility of the paradigm in collecting data on how people think under both stressful and neutral conditions. The paradigm seems to offer great flexibility in examining thought processes under a wide range of conditions of interest to psychopathologists and cognitive researchers.

Leptomeningeal carcinomatosis. How does cancer reach the pia-arachnoid?

Abstract: This study determines the main routes by which cancer cells reach the pia-arachnoid in leptomeningeal carcinomatosis. Twenty-eight autopsy proven cases of pure carcinomatosis of the leptomeninges were reviewed and the collected data were compared to data derived from control groups of cases with lung or breast cancer, with and without central nervous system (CNS) parenchymal metastases. Pathologic and statistical evidence suggests that in most cases of breast or lung cancer pure leptomeningeal carcinomatosis is the result of cancer propagation from vertebral or paravertebral metastases; in most cases of primary gastrointestinal cancer metastasis to the leptomeninges takes place via perineural spaces; and in cases where deep CNS parenchymal metastases are present leptomeningeal carcinomatosis follows cancer metastasis via the arterial route. Direct spread of a primary cancer in proximity to the CNS accounts for a small proportion of cases of cancerous invasion of the pia-arachnoid. It is not certain if metastasis can take place via the choroid plexus or meningeal arteries.

Baryons as Chiral Solitons

Abstract: Topologically stable solitonic solutions to Skyrme's chiral-invariant Lagrangian have been obtained numerically. The single parameter in these solutions has been determined with the Goldberger-Treiman relation. The identification of these objects with baryons leads to sensible statements regarding the sizes and energies of baryons as well as the two- and three-body interactions between baryons at zero separation.

On a Briot-Bouquet Differential Subordination

Abstract: Let p(z) be analytic in the unit disc Δ, let h(z) be convex (univalent) in Δ, and let β and γ be complex numbers. The authors show that if p(z) = zp′(z)(βp(z) + γ)−1 ≺ h(z) (where ≺ denotes subordination), then p(z) ≺ h(z). They prove, further, that if, in addition, the differential equation q(z) + zq′(z)(βq(z) + γ)−1 = h(z) has a univalent solution q(z), then the sharp subordination p(z) ≺ q(z) holds. Applications of these results in the field of univalent functions are given.

The classification and integration of edges as critical to the perception of reflectance and illumination

Abstract: A pattern of luminances equivalent to that of a traditional simultaneous lightness display (two equal gray squares, one on a white background and the other on an adjacent black background) was presented to observers under two conditions, and matches were obtained for both perceived reflectance and perceived illumination level of the squares and their backgrounds. In one condition, the edge dividing the two backgrounds was made to appear as the boundary between a white and a black surface, as in the traditional pattern. The squares then were perceived as almost the same shade of middle gray. In the other condition, a context was supplied that made the edge between the backgrounds appear as the boundary between two illumination levels, causing one square to appear black and the other white. These results were interpreted as a problem for local ratio theories, local edge theories, and lateral inhibition explanations of lightness constancy, but as support for the concepts of edge classification, edge integration, and the retinal image as a dual image.

P3 and stimulus incentive value.

Abstract: Event-related potentials were recorded to two equiprobable, task-relevant visual stimuli (0.00 and 1.00) under three different conditions. In the baseline condition subjects attended to both stimuli and pressed the appropriate button to each stimulus. In the Accuracy/Incentive condition subjects earned one dollar each time the 1.00 stimulus was presented by accurately pressing the appropriate button after each stimulus. Incorrect presses to either stimulus resulted in the loss of a dollar. In the Speed-Accuracy/Incentive run, subjects could only earn one dollar to the 1.00 stimulus if they accurately pressed the correct button within 350 msec. Reaction times greater than 350 msec to either stimulus resulted in the loss of a dollar. The results indicate that the amplitude of the P3 component is significantly different to equiprobable task-relevant stimuli with differential incentive values. P3 may reflect the subjective motivational properties of stimuli.

The morphology of corticofugal axons to the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus in the cat

Abstract: The structural features of corticogeniculate axons were studied in adult cats after labeling them with horseradish peroxidase (HRP). Injections of HRP into the optic radiations near the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus result in Golgi-like filling of both geniculate relay neurons and corticogeniculate axons. In the present material at least two main types of axons could be defined. The most common type is called the type I axon because it so closely resembles the type I axons described by Guillery (1966, 1967) in Golgi preparations. These fine axons have smooth surfaces and consistent fiber diameter. Most terminal swellings are at the ends of short collateral branches and these swellings form asymmetric synaptic contacts onto small and medium-sized dendrites. Type I axons typically innervate more than one lamina as well as interlaminar zones and they clearly arise from the cerebral cortex. The second type of axon is called the beaded axon because of its numerous swellings, en passant. These swellings frequently are larger than those on type I axons and they differ from previously described corticogeniculate axon terminals in their ultrastructural features. That is, their synaptic contacts appear symmetrical and they form axosomatic contacts. Because of these differences, the possibility that beaded axons are of subcortical origin, particularly from the perigeniculate nucleus, is discussed. When type I axons and geniculate relay neurons are filled in the same region of the nucleus it is possible to identify probable sites of synaptic contactby using the light microscope. Such analyses indicate thatcorticogenic-ulate axons synapse directly onto relay cells, primarily on peripheral dendritic branches. Further, it appears that single axons contact many geniculate neurons and that single neurons are contacted by many axons.

Adhesive bonding of various materials to hard tooth tissues: forces developing in composite materials during hardening.

Abstract: Reported measurements show that significant tensile stresses develop during the hardening of composite resins if there is bonding to the cavity walls.

Cognitive control of pain: Attention to the sensory aspects of the cold pressor stimulus.

Abstract: Two studies were conducted to replicate and extend previous work (Leventhal, Brown, Schaham, & Engquist, 1979) on the distress-reducing effects of attention to the sensory aspects of a painful stimulus. In the first study subjects exposed to the cold pressor were randomly assigned to three groups: (1)Attention group, instructed to attend to the sensory components of the cold pressure experience by actively verbalizing the sensations they were experiencing; (2)Distraction group, instructed to name their high school courses and teachers; and (3)Emotive group, instructed to express emotion associated with the cold pressor experience. As predicted, the Attention group reported the least distress, the Emotive group the most, and the Distraction group an intermediate amount. The second study replicated the effects of the Attention and Distraction groups using threshold and tolerance as the main dependent measures. Tolerance but not threshold was significantly increased in the Attention group. A third study also examined subjects' predictions of how given strategies would affect pain tolerance. Subjects predicted that the Attention and Emotive strategies would increase pain, whereas Imagining Numbness and Positive Imagery would decrease pain.