Showing papers by "Texas Christian University published in 1988"

Program readability: procedures versus comments

Abstract: A 3*2 factorial experiment was performed to compare the effects of procedure format (none, internal, or external) with those of comments (absent or present) on the readability of a PL/1 program. The readability of six editions of the program, each having a different combination of these factors, was inferred from the accuracy with which students could answer questions about the program after reading it. Both extremes in readability occurred in the program editions having no procedures: without comments the procedureless program was the least readable and with comments it was the most readable. >

The evolution of deception.

Abstract: Deception has evolved under natural selection, as has the capacity to detect deceit. In this article, we describe the adaptive significance of deception in plants, fireflies, octopi, chimpanzees, andHomo sapiens. We review behavior genetic research to find that heredity affects human deceptiveness and theorize that genetically-transmitted anatomical features prefigure human success at deceit.

Effect of formamide additive on the chemistry of silica sol-gels II. Gel structure

Abstract: In the present work we studied the influence of formamide on the structural and textural characteristics of tetramethoxysilane-derived silica gels by Raman spectroscopy, small angle X-ray scattering, Mo acidic test, and N 2 adsorption-desorption isotherms It was shown that sols are made of primary particles of about 20 A in diameter These primary structural units agglomerate in secondary particles of about 60 A in diameter Gelation occurs when the secondary structural units agglomerate with each other and form a three-dimensional network throughout the sample The evolution of the relative Raman intensity of the SiOSi peak at 830 cm −1 confirms that polycondensation still takes place after gelation, until a reduced time (reaction time/gelation time) t / t G of about 2, after which no significant variation of the Raman intensity is observed The structural and textural characteristics were found to be dependent on the concentration of formamide The particle size, pore volume, and average pore radius increase when the concentration of formamide increases These results are in very good agreement with previous work which showed that formamide decreases the hydrolysis rate but increases the polycondensation rate of tetramethoxysilane

Radiation Effects on Life Span in Caenorhabditis Elegans

Abstract: Wild-type and radiation-sensitive (Rad) mutants of Caenorhabditis elegans were irradiated using a /sup 137/Cs source (2.7 krads/min.) at several developmental stages and subsequently monitored for life span. Acute doses of radiation ranged from 1 krad to 300 krads. All stages required doses above 100 krads to reduce mean life span. Dauers and third stage larvae were more sensitive, and 8-day-old adults were the most resistant. Occasional statistically significant but nonrepeatable increases in survival were observed after intermediate levels of irradiation (10-30 krads). Unirradiated rad-4 and rad-7 had life spans similar to wild-type; all others had a significant reduction in survival. The mutants were about as sensitive as wild-type to the effects of ionizing radiation including occasional moderate life span extensions at intermediate doses. We conclude that the moderate life span extensions sometimes observed after irradiation are likely to be mediated by a means other than the induction of DNA repair enzymes.

Cultural Values and the CEO: Alluring Companions?

Abstract: One hundred fifty years ago, William Procter and James Gamble delivered their handmade candles and soap by wheelbarrow. Their emphasis even then on innovative marketing, competitive strategies, and uncompromised honesty are hallmarks of the multinational Procter & Gamble Company today. IBM's Tom Watson, Jr. believed in constructive rebellion, claiming, "You can make a wild duck tame, but you can't make a tame duck wild again." Today the wild duck is a symbol of IBM's unwavering respect for creative nonconformists that is, as long as they fly in the same direction. A founder of more recent vintage, Apple Computer's Steven Jobs is the quintessential rugged individualist whose fresh approach, willingness to take risks, and originality are evident in the company's name, as well as every product it makes. These descriptions illustrate how a founder's values permeate a corporation and affect its direction. When leadership changes, the new leader often carries on traditions while bringing along a new set of values that are also gradually integrated into the company's culture. An awareness of different companies' values can facilitate a firm in its business transactions and help stave off conflict. The abundance of such corporate raiders as T. Boone Pickens and Carl Icahn, and the impact raiders have had on Phillips Oil, TWA, CBS, Gulf Oil, and other companies' human resources, are clear evidence of a clash of values. The current emphasis on corporate culture both in academic journals and the popular press underscores the need for practicing managers to appreciate its influence. Yet little attention has been paid to the influence of national culture on corporations outside the United States. Viewing the world as "global village" requires that managers become more knowledgeable about international business yet many managers simply conduct international business as though they were dealing with fellow Americans. Culture shock, not to mention lost business, has often been the result. This article presents a framework for anticipating societal values that ultimately impact the behaviors of chief executive officers. Analyses of CEOs from five different cultures will illustrate how the framework can be used by managers involved in international business. Although biographies, stories, and legends about company founders are abundant, surprisingly little consideration has been given to the importance of the current CEO to the firm. What has been written usually focuses on CEO succession or demographic statistics. Clearly, other variables including personality characteristics, organizational design, environment, and business strategy influence CEO behavior, but it is our contention that value systems necessarily come first and may actually determine these other factors and govern their impact on the CEO. The potential for cultural differences among organizations is well known. The dominant values of a particular national culture are reflected in the constraints imposed on an organization by its environment (e.g., government, customers, and suppliers). In addition, the founders of an organization impose certain learned, cultural values on the organization from its beginning. Finally, organization members other than the founders behave in a manner consistent with the values of the "dominant elites" (the founders or current CEO). Culture and value systems are closely related. Individuals learn such values as respect for privacy or freedom of speech from their society. Although individuals differ in how they translate these values into action, in general we can begin to understand the behavior of CEOs by understanding the values their cultures hold dear.

An endonuclease from Caenorhabditis elegans: partial purification and characterization.

Abstract: A deoxyribonuclease was partially purified from the free-living nematodeCaenorhabditis elegans. The DNase functioned as an endonuclease and introduced both single-strand nicks and double-strand breaks into DNA. The enzyme hydrolyzed double-stranded DNA seven times more rapidly than single-stranded DNA. DNase activity was not affected by the addition of divalent cations below 1mm but was inhibited at higher ionic concentrations. In addition, the enzyme was not inhibited in the presence of 10mm EDTA. The enzyme was inhibited by salt concentrations greater than 20mm. Three independent mutations in thenuc-1 gene were shown to reduce nuclease activity to less than 1% of that seen in wild-type organisms.

Responses to Violence in a Psychiatric Setting The Role of Patient's Race

Abstract: With an archival method, we studied 453 incidents of violence at a Connecticut state psychiatric hospital for adolescents. Records revealed no difference in the number of violent acts by White and non-White patients. However, the White hospital staff physically restrained non-White patients nearly four times as often as they restrained Whites. Interracial contact reduced this differential imposition of restraints. These findings complement experimental evidence and illustrate contemporary race relations.

A Comparison of Stutterers' and Nonstutterers' Affective, Cognitive, and Behavioral Self-Reports

Abstract: This study compared stutterers' and nonstutterers' communication attitudes. A self-report inventory based on a tripartite attitudinal model was administered to 75 adult stutterers and 81 adult nons...

Least Absolute Value Regression: Necessary Sample Sizes to Use Normal Theory Inference Procedures*

Abstract: Recently developed large sample inference procedures for least absolute value (LAV) regression are examined via Monte Carlo simulation to determine when sample sizes are large enough for the procedures to work effectively. A variety of different experimental settings were created by varying the disturbance distribution, the number of explanatory variables and the way the explanatory variables were generated. Necessary sample sizes range from as small as 20 when disturbances are normal to as large as 200 in extreme outlier-producing distributions.

Effects of Cooperative Script Manipulations on Initial Learning and Transfer

Abstract: When two people study cooperatively, their expectations, roles, and prior exposure to the information to be discussed can potentially affect retention. In addition, a cooperative experience has the potential to facilitate subsequent individual study. Four cooperativestudy scripts were employed to test their effects on initial recall and on transfer to an individual task. As partners, students read and studied two passages. In Group 1, partners each read one passage only and then taught the material to each other. They did not expect to be able to read their partner's passage, although they were later given time to do so. Group 2 was identical to Group 1, except that partners in Group 2 expected the extra reading time. In Group 3, partners cooperated in reading both passages by alternating summarizer and listener roles four times within each passage. In Group 4, partners played summarizer and listener roles only once, at the end of each passage. All participants later studied a third passage individually (...

Rb-Sr and Sm-Nd isotopic study of the Glen Mountains layered complex: Initiation of rifting within the southern Oklahoma aulacogen

Abstract: Rb-Sr and Sm-Nd isotopic data for rocks and minerals of the Glen Mountains layered complex (GMLC), a midcontinent mafic layered intrusion in the Wichita Mountains of southwestern Oklahoma, constrain the time of initiation of rifting within the southern Oklahoma aulacogen and provide information on the chemistry of the early Paleozoic mantle. Four whole-rock samples define a Rb-Sr isochron corresponding to a maximum crystallization age of 577 ±165 Ma and an initial Sr isotopic composition of 0.70359 ±2. These whole-rock analyses do not define a Sm-Nd isochron; rather, they display a significant range in initial Nd isotopic composition (eNd = 3.63-5.35). A three-point Sm-Nd mineral-whole-rock (internal) isochron for an anorthositic gabbro provides a crystallization age of 528 ±29 Ma. These data suggest that the GMLC was emplaced into the southern Oklahoma aulacogen during the initial phase of rifting along the southern margin of the North American craton in the early Paleozoic. This Sm-Nd internal isochron age is within analytical uncertainty of U-Pb zircon ages for granites and rhyolites from the Wichita Mountains; therefore, mafic and felsic magmatism may have been contemporaneous within the rift during the early stages of development. Hybrid rocks and composite dikes in the Wichita Mountains provide field evidence for contemporaneous mafic and felsic magmas. Initial Sr and Nd isotopic data suggest that magmas parental to the GMLC were derived from a depleted mantle source. However, Nd isotopic data for the GMLC plot distinctly below data for the depleted mantle source cited by DePaolo and thus suggest that the parental magmas of the GMLC were either contaminated by Proterozoic crust of the southern midcontinent or were derived from a heterogeneous mantle source region that had variable initial Nd isotopic compositions.

Auditor Changes: A Note on the Policy Implications of Recent Analytical and Empirical Research:

Abstract: According to the Cohen Commission [ 11, external audits facilitate the efficient operation of the capital markets by lending credibility to financial data disseminated to the public. However, critics maintain that the dramatic increase in auditor changes in recent years [2] impairs the ability of auditors to satisfy that important function [3-51. Insinuations that the audit opinion has become a commodity, “shopped” for by public firms, have drawn the attention of the U.S. House subcommittee that oversees the financial reporting sphere [5] as well as that of the Securities and Exchange Commission [6 ] . Increased scrutiny may result in the imposition of more regulatory oversight on the auditing profession [7]. Unfortunately, the absence of a general theory to explain auditor switching behavior [8] impedes the development of a coherent regulatory policy to oversee auditor changes. However, recent analytical and empirical research have yielded insights that contribute to a better understanding of the critical issues surrounding the auditor switching controversy. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of potential policy implications, where the results may bear on the regulation of auditor changes.

Factors modulating filament formation by bovine glial fibrillary acidic protein, the intermediate filament component of astroglial cells

Abstract: Glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) is soluble in low ionic strength solutions but shows a strong tendency toward assembly with increasing ionic strength as revealed by electron microscopy and turbidity measurements. Increasing K+, Na+, and Li+ concentrations cause an increase followed by a decrease in GFAP turbidity with a maximum at 200 mM, but their effects are much weaker than effects of divalent cations at the same ionic strength. Ca2+, Mg2+, Mn2+, and Ba2+ promote assembly at millimolar concentrations, and 10 microM Cu2+ causes rapid aggregation. The critical concentration for GFAP assembly was 0.08 +/- 0.04 mg/mL in 2 mM Tris-HCl, 60 mM KCl, and 1 mM CaCl2, pH 6.8. The Mr 38,000 rod domain of GFAP obtained by limited chymotryptic digestion is more soluble in 100 mM imidazole hydrochloride buffer, pH 6.8, than the intact molecule, and removal of the end pieces greatly reduces the ability of GFAP to form filaments. BNPS-skatole (2-[(2-nitrophenyl)sulfenyl]-3-methyl-3-bromoindolenine) treatment releases a Mr 30,000 N-terminus and a Mr 20,000 C-terminus. The Mr 30,000 polypeptide shows a higher affinity than the Mr 20,000 fragment for intact GFAP. Arginine and lysine at low concentrations slightly accelerate GFAP assembly, but above 100 mM both amino acids inhibit assembly. ATP, GTP, CTP, and UTP do not show significant effects on GFAP assembly. Dephosphorylation by alkaline phosphatase slightly reduces the assembly ability of GFAP, but phosphatase-treated GFAP still is assembly competent.

Bootstrapping in least absolute value regression: an application to hypothesis testing

Abstract: A Monte Carlo simulation is used to study the performance of hypothesis tests for regression coefficients when least absolute value regression methods are used. In small samples, the results of the simulation suggest that using the bootstrap method to compute standard errors will provide improved test performance

Characterization and location of divalent cation binding sites in bovine glial fibrillary acidic protein.

Abstract: In our previous work [Yang, Z. W., & Babitch, J. A. (1988) Biochemistry (preceding paper in this issue)] divalent cations were found to be more effective promoters of astroglial filament formation than were monovalent cations. To determine if one or more divalent cation binding sites were the basis for this difference, glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) was attached to nitrocellulose membranes and bathed in 1 microM 45CaCl2 in 60 mM KCl, 0.5 mM MgCl2, and 10 mM imidazole hydrochloride, pH 7.4. After removal of unbound 45Ca2+, GFAP was observed to bind calcium. Flow dialysis experiments showed that GFAP, dissolved in 2 mM Tris-HCl, pH 7.5, contained three classes of binding sites and 0.61 +/- 0.08 (SD), 1.7 +/- 0.4, and 4.6 +/- 0.2 sites per GFAP molecule with dissociation constants of 0.66 +/- 0.01 microM, 6.6 +/- 0.3 microM, and 44 +/- 1 microM, respectively. After addition of 0.5 mM MgSO4 to the flow dialysis solution, the high- and low-affinity sites were not observed while the remaining sites (1.95 +/- 0.15 per GFAP molecule) had a Kd = 2.16 +/- 0.25 microM. This showed that the high- and low-affinity sites are "Ca2+-Mg2+" sites while sites with intermediate affinity are calcium specific. To locate the calcium-binding regions, GFAP peptides were examined for calcium binding by calcium-45 autoradiography. The calcium-specific binding areas were localized in coil I. Computer-assisted analysis of the GFAP sequence revealed several EF-hand-like areas which could be the calcium binding sites. We conclude that divalent cations may play both structural and regulatory roles in astroglial intermediate filaments.

"It's Been Real": Forms of Television Representation.

Abstract: “Realism” as a notion applied to visual media comes to television studies encrusted with ideas from centuries of debate. This essay suggests that “verisimilitude” is a more fruitful term not only because it is less value laden but because, by definition (“real‐seeming”), it implies the notion of “work.” Television verisimilitude, like all forms of television representation, is a product of engagement between program and viewer in the process of text construction. Television offers varying degrees of verisimilitude, from the preferred naturalized codes that parallel television ‘s achieved ontology of “liveness” to the self‐reflexive nature of verite. I argue that much of the reason a series like Hill Street Blues, whose verisimilitude is so obviously constructed, can appear more “real” is because much of its verisimilitude arises paradigmatically. Viewers, involved in the work of text construction, may engage Hill Street Blues' encoding not so much as verite but as something that most of the rest of televi...

Share price level and risk: implications for financial management

Abstract: The study of the variance of stock returns has expanded considerably in recent years, and much of the evidence indicates that there is an inverse relationship between the level of the stock price and corresponding estimated variance of returns. Christie (1982) shows that between 5 and 31% of the variation in actual returns variance can be explained by financial leverage, depending on the method used to test the relationship ((1982), Table 4). This leaves a sizable chunk of the relationship unexplained.

Play in the classroom: a descriptive study of preschool teachers’ beliefs

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to describe preschool teachers’ intervention during children's free play. A Weberian sociological framework was used to examine teachers’ beliefs and thus their decisions about play. Three preschool teachers were video filmed during free play and later interviewed about observed intervention episodes. The teachers were prompted to talk about what happened during the event, what they were thinking about, and for what reason they intervened. The teachers held differing beliefs and their actions were related to their belief systems. The teachers based their decisions upon their personal system of educational principles concerning how teachers should teach, how children learn, and early childhood curriculum. The reasons for intervention fell into one of the three Weberian constructs: cultural influences, social‐political influences, and economic influences. Cultural influences included decisions based upon the child's language development, social development, or value development...

Effective Leadership for Effective Schools: A Survey of Principal Attitudes.

Abstract: Effective principals agree on what should be occurring in the classrooms in their schools, according to these writers, who queried principals in 202 schools identified as "effective." The most important characteristic of teachers, they responded, is to be task oriented.

Promoting Functional Literacy through Cooperative Learning

Abstract: The effects of cooperative learning strategy manipulations on the enactment and recall of a medical procedure were explored. One hundred and twenty-three college students completed the experiment. During training, participants were randomly assigned to a dyad in one of four conditions: (a) no-strategy, (b) baseline strategy, (c) prompting strategy, and (d) planning strategy. During testing, participants both performed and produced written recalls of the procedure instructions. Test order was counterbalanced within dyad. Training and test performances were videotaped. The planning group produced the best recalls and recalled more conditions of the procedure. The prompting group performed best. Recall of the procedure in all groups was enhanced by prior performance. However, performance was enhanced by prior recall in only two groups. The groups differed also in the nature of the transition from training to testing. Theoretical and applied implications of these findings are discussed. The present experiment explored the efficacy of a variety of cooperative strategies in promoting functional literacy. Functional literacy, as used here, may be defined as the kind of literacy which is demonstrated when a person reads a set of

A Classification of influence measures

Abstract: Several influence measures have been developed for evaluating the effects of individual cases on parameter estimates, fitted values, and other least squares regression statistics. Cook and Weisberg (1982), Hocking (1983), and other feel that the average user of regression diagnostics would be overwhelmed and confused by the use of all such diagnostics. However, as Hocking (1983) points out, evidence from which to draw conclusions about the relative merits of existing influence measures in insufficient to make general recommendations about their use. The study provides a complete and systematic graphical exposition of twenty–one existing influence measures. The resulting classification of these measures into five similarity classes greatly simplifies the influence diagnostics menu. Recommendations based on the results of this analysis are made for the use of influence diagnostics.