Showing papers by "University of Hartford published in 1990"

Gender differences in social networks.

Abstract: Researchers of peer relations in late middle childhood and early adolescence have often neglected to examine the context in which social relations occur. The present study was designed to examine one aspect of the context of peer relations-the social networks of males and females. Fourth- and fifth-grade children were asked to rate their peers using friendship and play rating scales and to describe their same-sex peers in open-ended interviews. Although males and females did not differ in the number of best friends they reported, males were found to have larger social networks than females. Further, for males, position in a social network was more highly linked with acceptance by the peer group. Finally, males were concerned with attributes that could be construed as important for status in the peer group, and females were concerned with attributes that appeared essential to relationships with a few friends.

Market Power, Economic Profitability and Productivity Growth Measurement: an Integrated Structural Approach

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to treat scale economies, profit-maximizing markups, economic profitability, capacity utilization and productivity growth within an integrated structural model, and to assess their interactions empirically using annual two-digit U.S. manufacturing data. Attention is focused on error biases in measuring productivity using traditional accounting procedures. An important conjecture by Robert Hall, that the coexistence of normal economic profits and positive markups of price over marginal cost imply the existence of substantial scale economies and excess capacity, is then examined using this structure. The empirical results suggest that markups in most U.S. manufacturing firms have increased over time, and tend to the countercyclical. However, procyclical capacity utilization and scale economies tend to offset the short run profit potential from markup behavior. As a result, on average economic profits are normal, but declining profitability is prevalent in most industries since the early 1970s. Also, although cost and revenue shares tend to be approximately equal, the error biases in standard productivity growth measures resulting from input fixity and scale economies are substantial, particularly over business cycles.

How the West Was One: Representational Politics of NATO

Abstract: Contemporary discussions about the West having “won' the Cold War are framed within a conventional strategic discourse in which one political-military alliance, NATO, demonstrated its staying power and integrity in the face of its rival alliance, the Warsaw Pact. NATO's strategic practices, long the object of criticism on the part of revisionist historians and critical peace researchers, have apparently been vindicated. This paper draws upon a variety of post-realist approaches to global politics to examine NATO as a set of practices by which the West has constituted itself as a political and cultural identity. By turning our attention from the external, foreign, and defense policies of NATO and its member states to the domestic social and cultural dimensions of Western security politics, we can illuminate a side of security policy overlooked in conventional debates. NATO's success resides in having provided a network of intertextual representations for the articulation of global political space. Traditional security concerns, including the nature of the Soviet/Warsaw Pact “threat,” can thereby be seen not as existing externally out there on their own, but as circulating within a broader set of social practices. In the wake of recent developments within the Warsaw Pact and between the two alliance systems, the critical perspective outlined here enables us to analyze contemporary security issues in ways that transcend prevailing strategic discourse. Theoretically, we can see the outlines of a post-realist approach to security. For Europe, such an approach accords dignity to alternative, post-statist, post-modern security arrangements.

Isolation and Identification of the Coal-Solubilizing Agent Produced by Trametes versicolor.

Abstract: Low-ranked coals were dissolved by using cell extracts derived from liquid cultures of Trametes versicolor. The coal-solubilizing agent (CSA) was separated from the broth components by a multistep isolation procedure including reverse-phase high-pressure liquid chromatography, size exclusion chromatography, ethanol fractionation, and recrystallization. Staircase voltammetry was used to show that two CSA moieties can coordinate to aqueous copper(II) ion. A molecular weight determination (using amperometry) gave an apparent molecular weight of 1.34 × 102 g/mol ± 8%. Nuclear magnetic resonance indicated that all protons on CSA are exchangeable in D2O and that there is only one type of carbon in CSA. The infrared spectrum of recrystallized CSA is identical to that of ammonium oxalate, and X-ray studies confirmed the crystal structure and composition of CSA to be that of ammonium oxalate monohydrate. The equivalent weight of the coal in solution, when the coal was dissolved by ammonium oxalate, is 7,940 g of coal per mol of iron present in the coal.

Closed-loop model for general multirate digital control systems

Abstract: The paper develops a model for a closed-loop digital control system that incorporates multirate sampling with dynamic compensation. The model completely represents system behaviour at a base sampling rate and at the integral multiple sampling rates in the system. A key feature of the model is that sampling rates can be modified conveniently, without significantly changing the structure of the model. Based on the multirate closed-loop system model, frequency-domain transfer characteristics of the system are developed. These functions are presented in such a way that the performance of different sampling regimes can be compared directly. The eigenvalues of the closed-loop system are also defined so that effects of sampling rate variation may be investigated. An example is included to illustrate use of the model

Individual and Social Origins of Belief Structure Change.

Abstract: The present study was conducted among American undergraduates to examine the effects of public self-consciousness and repeated exposure to differing belief structures on individual belief structure change. This examination of both the individual and social origins of belief structure change complements the more typical investigations of how belief structures respond to the challenge of discrediting information. Individual differences multidimensional scaling analysis was employed to assess each subject's belief structure. Belief structure change was computed by summing the absolute value of the differences between each subject's dimension weights at two points in time 80 days apart. The results supported the predicted interaction effect: Individuals high in public self-consciousness who are exposed to individuals with differing belief structures are likely to change their belief structures.

Precision target tracking for small extended objects

Abstract: We present a methodology for tracking the centroid of small extended objects using measurements from a forward looking infrared imaging sensor. The statistical characterization of the centroid of a frame as a noisy linear measurement of the centroid of the target is obtained. The offset measurement noise is shown to be autocorrelated. State variable models and the corresponding filters for tracking the target centroid with these measurements are presented. Their performances are compared, and it is verified with simulations that the filter that models the autocorrelated measurement noise provides the best performance.

Contribution of Women to U.S. Marketing Thought: The Consumers' Perspective, 1900-1940

Abstract: This paper examines the early contributions of women to marketing thought with particular emphasis on marketing's evolving interest in the consumer. The emergence of marketing and home economics in the beginning of the present century provides a background for development of consumer theory and the relationships between these two disciplines. In addition, the contributions of women more closely aligned with mainstream marketing thought in the first half of the century are described and the significance of the “feminine perspective” and unique understanding of the consumer is demonstrated.

Implementing Expert Systems into Business‐to‐Business Marketing Practice

Abstract: Discusses artificial intelligence, particularly expert or knowledge systems, and its relevance for business‐to‐business marketing and marketing decision support systems. Enables the reader to understand the basic concepts of expert systems while providing more technical references, before discussing current and potential applications for decision support systems. Argues that expert systems will ultimately play a major role in such applications, developing over the next two decades. Includes appendices and a glossary of terms and definitions.

"I Don't Care What They Say, as Long as They Spell My Name Right" Publicity, Reputation and Turnover

Abstract: Managers receive numerous signals from their organizations regarding future career possibilities. Such signals can be interpreted in a variety of ways and can have important implications for future behavior on the job. In a field experiment, four organizational signals were presented to 157 middle-level managers in Fortune 500 companies. The effects of those signals on perceptions of reputation and the subsequent effect of reputation on turnover intentions were examined. Results of repeated measures multivariate analysis of variance indicated that both signal characteristics examined, the sign and level of publicity of the signal, as well as their interaction, had significant effects on perceived internal and external reputation. Multiple regression analyses found that perceptions of external reputation were significantly associated with an increased probability of search and probability of leaving, but not with intentions to leave the present organization. Implications for organizations concerning the co...

A Problem-Solving Approach to Teaching Electrochemical Driving Force to Undergraduates.

Abstract: The diversity of students in the typical undergraduate general physiology course demands consideration of several important education objectives: the instructor seeks to provide students with a sound understanding of basic physiological concepts, sharpen their analytical skills, and demonstrate how universal physicochemical laws determine function within living systems. These objectives converge in a problem-solving approach to electrochemical driving force and ion flux across biological membranes.

A multi-emission frequency domain modulator

Abstract: The development of mobile and portable multi-emission transceivers for analog and digital transmission over a wide frequency range requires the development of integrated modulator and demodulator systems. An experimental multi-emission frequency domain modulator that operates in the frequency range from approximately 5 MHz to 1 GHz is described. Using passive integrated components such as splitters, hybrids, and double-balanced mixers, as well as monolithic broadband amplifiers, the modulator modulates a carrier with a baseband signal in AM, SSB, DSB, FM, PM, or a variety of n-phase-shift keying (PSK)-modes. The analog modulations are generated using frequency domain techniques, i.e., the carrier and each sideband pair are independently generated. The n-PSK modes are developed by combining inphase, +or-90 degrees , and 180 degrees components using amplifiers/attenuators and an in-phase combiner. The performance of this modulator is discussed, as well as extensions to this technique to wideband FM, spread spectrum, and demodulation. Suitable architectures for a transceiver that incorporates this circuit, including integration of this modulator into a monolithic package, are considered. >

Cyclophosphamide and 15(S)-15 methyl PGE1 correct the T/B lymphocyte ratios of NZB/NZW mice.

Abstract: The lupus of NZB/NZW F1 female mice is associated with immune complex glomerulonephritis and premature death. Cyclophosphamide and 15(S)-15 methyl PGE1 therapy halt disease progression. Fluorescein conjugated antibodies were utilized to label specific leukocytes and the subsets were quantitated using a Fluorescence Activated Cell Sorter. Normal outbred CD-1 female mice showed a decrease in absolute T and B cell numbers with age, but the ratio of T and B cells remained essentially constant through 9 months of age. By contrast the NZB/W female mice showed decreased numbers of total lymphocytes relative to CD-1 controls at all ages. Moreover relative to CD-1s, there was a far greater decrease in T cell numbers (7× for NZB/W versus 2× for CD-1) and B cell numbers failed to decrease with age. The characteristic decline in T lymphocyte numbers and relative increase in B cell numbers in NZB/W mice were corrected with cyclophosphamide and PGE1 therapy. However, there was no selective modification of T cell subsets (L3T4+ or Ly2+) with therapy. Our investigation suggests correction of the abnormal T/B cell ratio may be a useful marker of therapeutic activity in NZB/W mice.

Designing executive reporting and decision support systems for colleges and universities

Abstract: THIS ARTICLE presents a design concept, alternative hardware and software environments, and application development strategies for building executive reporting and decision support systems for colleges and universities. It is based on seven years of application development experience in a planning and institutional research office that provides information center support to senior officers and middle managers in a private, comprehensive university. The author recommends design and implementation strategies gained from case study experience from a NERComP consortium project — Decision Support Systems for Higher Education Management.

The Sierpinski Triangle: Deterministic versus Random Models

Abstract: Recently a book on mathematics? Gleick's Chaos: Making a New Science (1987)?hit the best-seller lists and book club catalogs. Graphics displays on the sub ject have found their way into art galleries and magazines. The pretty pictures are undeniably exhil arating, but the real excitement for teachers of mathematics lies in the opportunity to travel with students down new avenues of genuine inquiry based on some simple ideas and questions and aided by correspondingly simple computer-programming techniques. Much of the field of dynamical systems has now been made more accessible and un derstandable because of current computer technology, but it is still necessarily far be yond the mathematical sophistication of most high school students. For the most part these students have not yet acquired strong backgrounds in the complex number system, linear algebra, or calculus, to name a few prerequisites for deeper understanding. However, at least two aspects of this field, which are accessible to many high school students, would motivate them and give them good preparation for further study: the concept of a fractal and the tech nique of iteration. A fractal is a set of points that is not zero-dimensional like a point, nor one-di mensional like a line, nor two-dimensional like a plane region, and so on. Rather, its dimension is better described by a number

Forward Homework — A Motivational Tool

Abstract: (1990). Forward Homework — A Motivational Tool. The College Mathematics Journal: Vol. 21, No. 5, pp. 400-402.

The published music of Heinrich Schenker: An historical‐archival introduction

Abstract: (1990). The published music of Heinrich Schenker: An historical‐archival introduction. Journal of Musicological Research: Vol. 10, No. 3-4, pp. 177-197.

Output learning and duality in joint production programs

Abstract: Output learning is incorporated into a short-run static cost-minimizing model of the multiproduct, multifactor firm which employs a fixed-coefficients technology. The firm's output processes or activities are ultimately specified as functions of the activity variables themselves, thus rentering a generalization to a concave program. A Lagrange dual formulation is then used to obtain the indirect cost objective. Given that this optimal cost function is differentiable and satisfies a regularity condition, its price derivatives serve as input demand functions while its derivatives with respect to the minimum output requirements yield a set of (implicit) marginal costs or dual variables.

Total hip arthroplasty-finite element analysis validation

Abstract: A three-dimensional finite element analysis (FEA) was performed on a carbon reinforced epoxy model of a human femur/femoral prosthesis using the PATRAN FEA program. The model had been strain gaged and tested previously using forces simulating femoral heat and trochanteric abductor loads. The geometry for the finite element analysis was obtained by digitizing 0.34 CT scan sections taken of the epoxy model. Three dimensional meshes of the prothesis and the femur were created using hex and wedge elements and merged to form the femur/prosthesis system. Loads and boundary conditions were applied to simulate the test configuration. Stresses obtained from strain gages are compared to stresses generated by the FEA, with reasonable correlation observed. >