Showing papers by "University of Akron published in 1985"

Cross‐validation of a short form of the Marlowe‐Crowne Social Desirability Scale

Abstract: This research is a cross-validation and extension of Reynolds' (1982) short form of the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale, using three separate groups (N = 233). Unlike Reynolds, the present researchers administered the 13 items as a separate entity, calculated Cronbach's Alpha for each sex, and also computed a test-retest correlation for one of the three groups. The authors conclude that this 13-item short form is a viable alternative to the full scale.

Hand held data entry apparatus

Abstract: A hand held data entry apparatus wherein a main body portion is formed to be held in one hand while data is entered through a keyboard by the fingers of the other hand. An optical scanning head is mechanically and electrically connected to the main body portion through an arrangement which permits the optical scanning head to be connected to the main body portion in more than one relative position. The scanning head sensor is pointed in a direction such that when the device is held in one hand the other hand may be utilized for entering data through the keyboard and at the same time the scanning head is directed toward the surface to be scanned, without need to reposition the main body portion.

Theory and experiment on microstrip antennas with airgaps

Abstract: In a microstrip antenna, the resonant frequency of a particular mode is determined by the shape and size of the conducting patch, the relative permittivity of the substrate and, to some extent, the thickness of the substrate. If the resonant frequency is to be changed, a new antenna is usually needed. Recently, Lee and Dahele have shown that the resonant frequencies of microstrip antennas can be changed by introducing an adjustable airgap between the substrate and the ground plane. In addition to providing a means for tuning the resonant frequencies, the airgap also has the effect of increasing the bandwidth of the antenna. The purpose of the paper is to present a comprehensive report on our research on microstrip antennas with airgaps. First, experimental results obtained by introducing an airgap in (i) circular-discs, (ii) annular-rings and (iii) dual-frequency stacked-disc microstrip antennas are presented. Secondly, the theories that have been developed are described. Thirdly, comparison between theoretical and experimental results is given.

The Concept of Dynamic Criteria: A Critical Reanalysis.

Abstract: Discussions of “the criterion problem” stress the assumedly frequent incidence of dynamic criteria. However, different concepts of dynamic criteria have not been distinguished. Three views of dynamic criteria are clarified in this paper. These are dynamic criteria conceptualized as (a) changes in group average performance over time, (b) changes in validity over time, and (c) changes in the rank-ordering of scores on the criterion over time. The evidence cited for each concept of dynamic criteria is critically analyzed and submitted to significance tests. The results of analyses of 735 r's and 532 paired r's across time from studies pertinent to dynamic criteria are reported. It is concluded that dynamic criteria are rare phenomena, with the significant changes found in key studies explainable by methodological artifacts. Though many sources suggest that dynamic criteria have dire consequences for the overall selection process, we argue that the phenomena have been over-emphasized in the literature, and that practitioners' concern should focus instead on removing sources of criterion unreliability.

A Comparison of Four Information Processing Models of Leadership and Social Perceptions

Abstract: This study examined the validity of four alternative information processing models which specify how interaction behavior related to social perceptions in a small group problem-solving experiment. Results indicated that leadership and social power perceptions were based on relative, as opposed to absolute, frequency of behaviors and that this relationship was eliminated when behavior conflicted with experimenter provided behavioral norms. Limited support was found for the expectations that leadership perceptions depended on the prototypicality of behavior and on how well behaviors matched the interdependence requirements of experimental tasks. Results further suggested that raters' causal ascriptions to ratees may have been derived from leadership perceptions rather than being crucial in forming leadership perceptions, which supports a categorization model of leadership.

Scale inhibition in water systems

Abstract: In a preferred embodiment, this invention relates to a method for inhibiting formation of phosphate scale in water systems by the addition of a threshold amount of a water-soluble copolymer of 40 to 95 weight parts of an acrylic acid with 5 to 60 parts of a substituted acrylamide, based on a total of 100 parts of polymerized monomers.

The Role of Inferential Accuracy in Performance Rating

Abstract: The presence of shared implicit theories of performance is used in explaining the failure of behavioral anchors to improve performance ratings. It is proposed that efforts to improve rating accuracy also will be hampered by a preoccupation with observation. Instead, attention needs to be focused on the inferential accuracy of the rater and the cognitive processes and implicit theories upon which raters rely.

Instant bingo game verification system

Abstract: A system for verifying instant bingo game winners includes a plurality of printed cards, each carrying machine readable coding indicia and printed payoff information. A verifying apparatus receives the cards and contains reading and sensing apparatus which can verify the genuineness of the card, determine whether it is a winning card and, in some instances, determine the winning category. The results of the reading and sensing by the verifying apparatus are visually displayed in a format corresponding to that of the cards and the verifying apparatus also has the capability of voiding or cancelling the cards to prevent reuse and embossing the cards with the relevant information as dictated by the coded indicia.

The set of real numbers left uncovered by random covering intervals

Abstract: Random covering intervals are placed on the real line in a Poisson manner. Lebesgue measure governs their (random) locations and an arbitrary measure μ governs their (random) lengths. The uncovered set is a regenerative set in the sense of Hoffmann-Jorgensen's generalization of regenerative phenomena introduced by Kingman. Thus, as has previously been obtained by Mandelbrot, it is the closure of the image of a subordinator —one that is identified explicitly. Well-known facts about subordinators give Shepp's necessary and sufficient condition on μ for complete coverage and, when the coverage is not complete, a formula for the Hausdorff dimension of the uncovered set. The method does not seem to be applicable when the covering is not done in a Poisson manner or if the line is replaced by the plane or higher dimensional space.

Item analysis of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

Abstract: The current study explores the item structure of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). A factor analysis of responses of a large sample (n = 1291) yielded six salient factors, four resembling the four scales of the MBTI. Kuder-Richardson 20 coefficients are reported for the scales and factors. Pearson rs are also reported for the factor-scale relationships. All analyses yield only limited support for the item validity of the MBTI. Relevant issues involving the construction of the test are discussed and suggestions are made for future research.

Intersections and Limits of Regenerative Sets

Abstract: A regenerative set M is a random set of real numbers that has a type of Markov property, not necessarily at arbitrary times like the set of instances following independent exponentially distributed waiting times, but only at those times belonging to M. Early uses of the term ‘regenerative set’ appear in [Meyer 1970] and [Maisonneuve and Morando 1970] — and, earlier, Tackas [1956] used ‘regeneration point’ for a member of a certain type of regenerative set. As clarification for some readers but possibly prematurely for others, I mention that Feller [1968], in Chapter XIII, used the term ‘recurrent event’, but this term has been largely discarded because a regenerative set is not what is usually called an event. Hoffman-Jorgensen [1969] uses the term ‘Markov set’, whereas Krylov and Yushkevich [1965] use ‘Markov random set’ for a stochastic process related to a regenerative set. Breiman [1968] and Kingman [1972] focus on the indicator function of M, using the terms ‘renewal process’ and ‘regenerative phenomenon’, respectively. We will stick to ‘regenerative set’.

Fatigue life analysis of a turboprop reduction gearbox

Abstract: A fatigue life analysis of the Allison T56/501 turboprop reduction gearbox was developed. The life and reliability of the gearbox was based on the lives and reliabilities of the main power train bearings and gears. The bearing and gear lives were determined using the Lundberg-Palmgren theory and a mission profile. The five planet bearing set had the shortest calculated life among the various gearbox components, which agreed with field experience where the planet bearing had the greatest incidences of failure. The analytical predictions of relative lives among the various bearings were in reasonable agreement with field experience. The predicted gearbox life was in excellent agreement with field data when the material life adjustment factors alone were used. The gearbox had a lower predicted life in comparison with field data when no life adjustment factors were used or when lubrication life adjustment factors were used either alone or in combination with the material factors.

Racism, Rational Choice, and White Opposition to Racial Change: A Case Study of Busing

Abstract: Despite significant declines in traditional prejudice, white resistance to desegregation and affirmative action has led some to argue that a new symbolic racism has emerged as the principal impediment to racial change in America. Studies of opposition to busing, however, suggest a nonracial or rational choice explanation; whites oppose busing because it is believed to have too many costs and not enough benefits. Using data from a mediumsized midwestern city, this study estimates a multiple indicator model for the effects of traditional prejudice, symbolic racism, and rational choice on four types of opposition to busing-attitudes toward two-way busing, one-way busing, protest, and white flight. Traditional prejudice and symbolic racism are found to be partially independent dimensions whose effects on busing opposition are entirely mediated by certain expected costs of busing. Thus, the findings support both racism and rational choice explanations. There is, however, no support for the notion that symbolic racism is a more important source of opposition to racial change than is traditional prejudice. McKee J. McClendon is Professor of Sociology at the University of Akron, Ohio. This paper is a revised version of a paper presented at the 1983 meetings of the American Sociological Association in Detroit, August 31-September 4. The author wishes to thank Fred P. Pestello and the anonymous reviewers for POQ for their helpful suggestions. The author also expresses gratitude to Elizabeth Mutran and Robert Nash Parker for their consultation on LISREL. All deficiencies are the sole responsibility of the author. Public Opinion Quarterly Vol. 49:214-233 C) by the Trustees of Columbia University Published by Elsevier Science Publishing Co., Inc. 0033-362X/85/0049-214/$2.50 This content downloaded from 207.46.13.28 on Tue, 30 Aug 2016 05:14:47 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms A CASE STUDY OF BUSING 215 tional racial prejudice may no longer be an important factor in perpetuating racial inequality. If the principle of equal opportunity now enjoys widespread white support, such does not appear to be the case for many concrete efforts to change the racial status quo. Antipoverty programs, welfare for blacks, black militance, affirmative action, and busing for school integration are opposed by many whites (McConahay and Hough, 1976; Lipset and Schneider, 1978; Kinder and Rhodebeck, 1982; Pettigrew, 1979; Kinder and Sears, 1981). One reason for white opposition to affirmative action is that many whites now believe that opportunities for blacks to get ahead have improved greatly, and that today blacks have an equal or better than equal chance to get ahead (Kluegel and Smith, 1982; 1983). Thus, many whites seem to feel that there is little discrimination and that blacks are benefiting from preferential treatment or reverse discrimination. The existence of such beliefs and attitudes about blacks' opportunity and programs for racial change, coupled with the decline in traditional prejudice, has led some to argue that a new "symbolic racism" has emerged (McConahay and Hough, 1976; Kinder and Sears, 1981). As conceptualized by McConahay and Hough, symbolic racism consists of negative affect toward blacks and the belief that black demands and government efforts to help blacks are violating cherished values embodied in the Protestant Ethic. Since blacks are believed to have equal opportunity, affirmative action and busing are symbolic of illegitimate black demands. Instead of being based upon traditional racist doctrines of white superiority and de jure segregation, symbolic racism is a hostile sense of racial injustice which emerged when the civil rights movement began to attack de facto segregation in the North (McConahay and Hough, 1976). Since traditional prejudice appeared to be at a low level in the North at that time, it has been stated that symbolic racism became the major source of opposition to racial change (Kinder and Sears, 1981:416). This notion implies that either traditional prejudice now has little or no effect on opposition to change, or minimally, that symbolic racism has a stronger effect than traditional prejudice, particularly in the North. The validity of this thesis, however, has not been adequately tested by previous research. Given that symbolic racism and traditional prejudice are both said to be expressions of an underlying negative affect toward blacks (McConahay and Hough, 1976), symbolic racism may overlap to a great extent with traditional prej-udice (Kluegel and Smith, 1983). With the possible exception of Bobo (1983), however, there has been little or no research to determine the degree, if any, to which symbolic racism is empirically independent of traditional prejudice. Moreover, there has also been no test of the notion that symbolic racism has a stronger effect on opposition to racial change than does traditional prejudice. This paper This content downloaded from 207.46.13.28 on Tue, 30 Aug 2016 05:14:47 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 216 McKEE J. McCLENDON will test the independence and relative effects of the two types of racism through an analysis of white opposition to busing, a prototype for other types of affirmative action. It has been noted (Kluegel and Smith, 1983) that the literature on symbolic racism often seems to equate all opposition to affirmative action programs with racism; opposition to busing, for example, has been treated as a measure of symbolic racism (Kinder and Sears, 1981). There is, however, a nonracial explanation for busing opposition which must be

Uncovering Rape: The Watchdog Press and the Limits of Agenda Setting

Abstract: This article reports the findings of the second in a series of field experiments on the agenda-setting effects of news media investigative reports. The authors used a pretestposttest quasi-experimental design to assess the impact of a newspaper investigative series about rape on a randomly selected group of Chicagoans and a purposive sample of policy makers. Unlike the first study, the series had a minimal impact on public opinion and policy making, but affected profoundly the subsequent newspaper coverage of rape. David L. Protess and Donna R. Leff are Associate Professors at the Medill School of Journalism and the Center for Urban Affairs and Policy Research (CUAPR); Margaret T. Gordon is Professor at the Medill School of Journalism and Department of Sociology, and Director of the CUAPR; all are at Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60201. Stephen C. Brooks is Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science, University of Akron. The authors wish to thank Fay Cook, Peter Miller, and Tom Tyler for comments on earlier versions. Requests for reprints may be addressed to David Protess, Center for Urban Affairs and Policy Research, Northwestern University, 2040 Sheridan Rd., Evanston IL 60201. Public Opinion Quarterly Vol 49:19-37 ? by the Trustees of Columbia University Published by Elsevier Science Publishing Co., Inc. 0033-362X/85/0049-19/$2 50 This content downloaded from 157.55.39.144 on Wed, 07 Sep 2016 05:20:28 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 20 DAVID L. PROTESS AND OTHERS 1981; Regier, 1930), or impressionistic (Bernstein and Woodward, 1974; Crouse, 1973; Salisbury, 1980.) This article reports the second in a continuing series of studies' designed to assess empirically the effects of particular news media investigative reports on public and formal agendas. The first (Cook, et al., 1983), utilizing a pretest-posttest experimental design, found that a nationally televised investigative news report on fraud and abuse in the federally funded home health care program had significant effects on both kinds of agendas. The study found that home health care-related issues (and not unrelated issues) became significantly more important to citizens and policy makers exposed to the television investigative report than to nonviewers. Nonetheless, actual policy changes following the televised report resulted more from direct pressure for "reform" by the journalists themselves than from demands by the general public. The current study uses a quasi-experimental research design to measure the effects of a Chicago Sun-Times newspaper investigative series. The series disclosed government improprieties in the handling of cases of rape and other sexual assaults of Chicago area women. Thus, we continue to focus on media accounts of official "wrongdoing" in a social problem area. We again employ a design that is better suited to test causal hypotheses than other methodologies traditionally used in agendasetting research (Cook and Campbell, 1979), including cross-sectional (McCombs and Shaw, 1972; McLeod, et al., 1974; Erbring, et al., 1980) or panel study designs (Tipton, et al., 1975; Shaw and McCombs, 1977; MacKuen, 1981). This study, however, uses as its content the topic of rape rather than home health care, is in a local rather than a national publication, and is in a print rather than broadcast medium. If media indeed have an ability to influence citizen judgments of issue importance, then they might also produce other changes. For numerous reasons, most agenda-setting studies fail to pursue these possible additional consequences. This article first will examine the attitudinal impact of the Sun-Times rape series. Next we trace the effects of the series on public policy making in Chicago. Finally, we will measure the effects of the series on the news media's own agenda of concerns: specifically, subsequent Sun-Times coverage of rape and related issues.

Molecular Characterization of Poly (2-methyl-1,3-pentadiene) and Its Hydrogenated Derivative, Atactic Polypropylene

Abstract: La polymerisation anionique de (E)-methyl-2 pentadiene-1,3 conduit au polymere du titre monodisperse; l'hydrogenation conduit au polypropene atactique

Process for pelletization of powder materials and products therefrom

Abstract: A method for the production of small, dustless, free-flowing pellets of powder chemical additives utilizing a high molecular weight polymeric binder, such as polyvinyl alcohol; a surfactant containing oxyethylene groups; and water.

Vinyl chloride polymer laminate

Abstract: A compounded and plasticized vinyl chloride polymer layer, optionally supported such as with a fabric, contains an outer adherent and stain resistant layer having durability and flexibility comprising the crosslinked reaction product of a reactive polyester having free carboxylic acid groups and an alkylated benzoguanamine-, urea- or melamine-formaldehyde resin. The vinyl chloride layer may be printed or embossed or both printed and embossed, optionally printed again, before the outer layer is applied.

Flow patterns in carbon black filled polyethylene at the entrance to a die

Abstract: Flow patterns in the entrance region of dies with various entrance geometry configurations have been investigated for low density polyethylene filled with carbon black. The experiments were carried out using samples with titanium dioxide markers in the barrel of an Instron capillary rheometer using dies with varying entrance geometries. The material in the barrel was cooled under pressure, removed and longitudinally sectioned. Samples with 0–5 volume percent carbon black exhibited in 180° entrance angle dies corner vortices typical of low density polyethylenes. At higher volume loadings, no vortices were observed. All longitudinal sections of these systems showed streamline motion directed towards the die entrance. This was found to be the case for blacks of varying particle size and different die entrance geometries. Purging experiments using initially white (CaCO 3 or TiO 2 ) filled regions at the die entrance revealed only very small stagnant regions in the corners of 180° entrance angle dies, 270° diverging entrance angle dies were also shown to exhibit small stagnant regions in the diverging parts of the die.