Showing papers by "University of Memphis published in 1979"

Discrepancy between thin-section and X-ray estimates of dolomite in limestone

Abstract: Three independent errors affect X-ray diffraction estimates of dolomite in pre-Cenozoic carbonates. When using calcite/dolomite [104] peak ratios, each 1% of excess calcium in the dolomite lattice causes approximately a 2% overestimate of the amount of dolomite. Use of the [113] peak ratios avoids the stoichiometry problem; however. if quartz is present, the interference between the [102] quartz peak (d = 2.282 A) and the [113] calcite peak (d = 2.285 A) can cause a serious underestimate of the dolomite proportion. In addition, error will occur if the crystallite size in the powdered standards used to prepare X-ray calibration curves differs significantly from the crystallite size in the sample unknowns. All these errors can be avoided or corrected; however, point count r visual estimation of stained thin sections is a simple, reliable technique and is preferable for routine analysis of visibly crystalline, lithified, sediment.

Psychological aspects of athletic competitors: A replication across sports

Abstract: The Memphis State University racquetball team has held the International Racquetball Association national championship in 3 of the last 4 years. Each of the nine male undergraduates who composed this team completed a standardized questionnaire in late fall in the middle of the competitive racquetball season and again in late spring just prior to the end of the season. The questionnaire administered was a modification of that used bv Mahoney and Avener (1977) to investigate aspects of the personalities ot' athletes, their self-concepts, and the cognitive strategies they employ during training and competi t ion. ' Concomitant with lhe administration of each questionnaire, the team coach was asked to rank the nine players in order of ability demonstra ted in practice and competi t ion during the previous week (1 to 9 for most to least ,killed). : \\ f lcr the adminisiration of the l'inal questionnaire, rt]e pertormance of team members in the 1978 Tennessee State Racquetball Championships was observed. All nine players completed the first questionnaire. l)uring the season two players sustained mjt, ries and could no longer compete. so that only seven players competed in the championship tournament .

Communicative and sensorimotor development of Down's syndrome children.

Abstract: Imperative and declarative performative behavior was examined in nonretarded and Down's syndrome children operating at two stages of sensorimotor intelligence. In both groups, more advanced types of performative behavior generally associated with a higher sensorimotor stage. Relative to the nonretarded children of the same sensorimotor stages, the Down's syndrome children relied more heavily on gestures in their imperative and declarative usage. Evidence was also obtained suggesting that the correspondence between sensorimotor stage and performative behavior is closer at younger ages than at older ages.

Objective self-awareness as a nonaversive state: Effect of anticipating discrepancy reduction

Abstract: The possibility that self-aware subjects in previous objective sell-awareness studies displayed heightened negative affect and avoidance reactions because they were made to focus on permanent negative discrepancies was investigated in the present research. Subjects were first induced to regard a negative real-ideal discrepancy as either permanent or reducible in size, and then were either made or not made objectively self-aware. As expected, those self-aware subjects who anticipated no reduction in discrepancy size were found to be more negative in mood and quicker to exit from the experimental room than were their counterparts in the other three conditions. It was concluded that self-focused attention only generates aversive reactions when it brings to awareness a negative real-ideal discrepancy which the individual feels cannot be altered.

Formal Polity and Power Distribution in American Protestant Denominations

Abstract: The purpose of this paper was to determine whether differences in religious denominations' formal polity structures (i.e., congregational, presbyterian, and episcopal patterns) contribute to vertical power differentials among their structural levels. Formal polity structure was measured as authority of local churches to hire and fire their ministers. Data from 26 Protestant denominations suggest a relationship between formal polity and the power distribution which was operationalized as the location of the pastoral placement bureau. This relationship was obtained independent of such important variables as size, administrative specialization, and bureaucratic formalization. The findings suggest that when studying power distributions, especially in purposive organizations, constitutionally defined and normatively shaped aspects of organizational polity (i.e., formal polity structures) should be taken into account.

Emotional Empathy in a Courtroom Simulation: A Person-Situation Interaction1

Abstract: A pair of experiments were conducted using a simulated courtroom trial of a criminal case. In Experiment I subject-jurors were asked by defense counsel either to imagine themselves as the defendant (empathy-inducing appeal) or to pay close attention to evidence (nonempathy appeal). Later the judge delivered only general instructions or, in addition, charged jurors to give consideration only to the facts presented. When there was no Fact-focused judge's charge, juror-subjects who heard the empathy-inducing appeal rated the defendant's actions as more lawful and attributed less of the cause for the incident to his personality than did their counterparts in the nonempathy condition. Experiment II included individual differences in the tendency to empathize as an additional mediating variable. The original pattern of effects found for the manipulated variables in Experiment I appeared again, but were overshadowed by the stronger effects of the individual difference variable and of subject sex. Subject-jurors who scored high on the empathy individual difference measure rated the defendant less guilty, assigned less cause to him, and showed corresponding mood shifts when they heard the empathy-inducing appeal. In addition, male subjects empathized more strongly with the male defendant and viewed him more favorably.

Determination of Calcium and Magnesium in Cardiac and Skeletal Muscle by Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy Using Stoichiometric Nitrous Oxide-Acetylene Flame

Abstract: A highly sensitive technique is reported for the determination of calcium and magnesium contents in demoisturized, defatted and

A comparison of decision quality under nominal and interacting consensus group formats: the case of the structured problem*

Abstract: The applicability of the Nominal Grouping Technique (NGT) to a structured problem was investigated. NGT and interacting consensus groups were compared on the criteria of decision quality, utilization of best resource, and improvement in quality over average-member decision quality. Nominal groups' decisions were significantly (p = .005) better than those of interacting groups on all three criteria. Problems with criteria assessment in unstructured tasks were discussed, as were the implications of the present study for prescriptions for NGT use.

Temperature biofeedback and relaxation training in the treatment of migraine headaches. One-year follow-up.

Abstract: In a previous controlled group outcome study, a comparison of temperature biofeedback with progressive relaxation indicated that relaxation training was more effective in reducing migraine headache activity at the end of treatment. However, follow-up data obtained at 1, 2, and 3 months after the completion of treatment showed no difference between the two groups on any dependent measure. In the current study, 18 of 26 subjects who completed treatment in the original investigation collected headache data and completed a headache questionnaire 1 year subsequent to the conclusion of treatment in order to evaluate the long-term effectiveness of the two treatments. The results indicated that gains achieved in the reduction of headaches during both treatments were maintained at a 1-year follow-up. With the exception of medication consumption (for which relaxation training led to better long-term results) the 1-year follow-up data reveal no differential efficacy for temperature biofeedback or progressive relaxation in treating migraine headaches.

Strange bedfellows: Reward, punishment, and impersonal distraction strategies in treating dysphoria

Abstract: Contingent reward and punishment self-help strategies, calling for either overt acts or covert imagery, were compared to a noncontingent social influence-distraction method and a wait control group, among 120 dysphoric college students. The reward-punishment and overt-covert variations led to negligible differences, and, combined, the contingent strategies did not surpass social influence clients' progress although creating significantly better treatment expectations (p< .01). All treated groups sharply reduced dysphoria on the Beck and Zung scales and subjective rating items (all ps < .001), and surpassed the wait controls on the same measures (ps < .01). Two years after treatment, a remote follow-up (reaching 67% of treated clients) disclosed some significant cognitive vestiges of the different strategies taught earlier.

A Developmental Model of Human Learning

Abstract: Publisher Summary This chapter proposes the conception of developmental learning that involves a processor that operates on information that is processed, transformed, and integrated into ongoing behavior by activated schemes, and an organized set of cognitive subprocesses that regulate a continuous flow of information to (and from) the processor. The processor encompasses the underlying cognitive schemes available to the child at each level of development. These capabilities determine the kinds of solution plans the child may generate and execute and, consequently, they are reflected in the efficiency with which information is processed. As a first approximation, the processor schemes are identified with Piaget's description of the cognitive operations available to preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational thought. The cognitive subprocesses probably involve differentiating environmental cues, attentional mechanisms, coding processes, memory storage, and retrieval from memory. The efficiency with which various subprocesses function changes quantitatively with development, and in some cases they are readily manipulable in the laboratory.

Physician's Death Anxiety and Patient Outcomes

Abstract: It was hypothesized that terminal patients of physicians with high death anxiety would survive longer during their final hospital stay than terminal patients of physicians with low death anxiety. This was based on the reasoning that physicians high in death anxiety would be less willing to accept their patients' terminality and therefore would be more likely to use heroic measures to keep them alive. Hospital physicians were asked to complete a death anxiety scale over the telephone. Unknown to them, hospital records were later examined to determine the number of patients treated by each physician, the number that died, the length of final hospital stay of dying patients and the length of stay in the hospital of non-dying patients. As predicted, patients of physicians with high death anxiety were in the hospital an average of five days longer before dying than patients treated by physicians of medium and low death anxiety.

The free topological group over the rationals

Abstract: In this paper we investigate the topological structure of the Graev free topological group over the rationals. We show that this free group fails to be a k -space and fails to carry the weak topology generated by its subspaces of words of length less than or equal to n . As tools in this investigation we establish some properties of net convergence in free groups and also some properties of certain canonical maps which are closely related to the topological structure of free groups.

Respiratory-chain characteristics of mutants of Azotobacter vinelandii negative to tetramethyl-p-phenylenediamine oxidase.

Abstract: Mutants of Azotobacter vinelandii negative to N,N,N′,N′-tetramethyl-p-phenylenediamine [Ph(NMe2)2] oxidase were obtained after mutagenesis by screening colonies with the ‘oxidase reagent’ Ph(NMe2)2. These mutants appear to be the first respiratory mutants reported for Azotobacter. Characterization of one of these mutants (AV-11) revealed similar growth rates under N2-fixing conditions, comparable P/O ratios (about 0.6, NADH) and H/O quotients (about 4), and similar respiration rates as the parent strain AV-OP. No oxygen consumption or net synthesis of ATP could be demonstrated with phosphorylating membranes of mutant AV-11 using reduced Ph(NMe2)2 as substrate. The oxidase-negative properties of mutant AV-11 appear to be associated with an inability of the terminal oxidases cytochromes o and a1 to reoxidize cytochromes c4+c5 in membrane particles. Cytochrome c4+c5 of mutant AV-11 could not be reoxidized by normal procedures (bubbling with oxygen or with 0.05 mM ferricyanide). These could only be reoxidized by excess ferricyanide (10 – 20 mM). Oxidized cytochromes c4+c5 of mutant AV-11 are readily reduced by reduced Ph(NMe2)2 and studies on partially purified cytochromes c4 and c5 showed no unusual properties. A comparison of the respiratory kinetics for membrane particles of strains AV-11 and AV-OP showed no differences in the oxidation of NADH or malate via cytochrome oxidase d[V= 3.2 μmol oxygen consumed × min−1× mg protein−1; Km (O2) = 18 μM]. The respiratory kinetics exhibited for oxidation of reduced Ph(NMe2)2 via the oxidases cytochrome o and a1 could only be determined for strain AV-OP (V= 0.7 μmol O2× min−1× mg protein−1; Km= 3.1 μM). The very high V value observed for oxidation of cytochrome d (strains AV-11 and AV-OP) suggests that this oxidase is capable of handling the electron flow generated by the very active dehydrogenases. Since the respiratory chain of mutant AV-11 appears to be blocked between cytochromes c4+c5 and the oxidases cytochromes o and a1, we suggest that for the Ph(NMe2)2-oxidase-negative mutants, cytochrome d is the only functional oxidase.

Cognitive contributions to the development of gymnastics skills

Abstract: The acquisition of athletic skills is one area in which cognitive factors are receiving increasing attention (Mahoney & Avener, 1977). Mahoney and Avener (1977) found that United States male Olympic gymnasts were more likely to self-instruct than gymnasts who failed to make the Olympic team. This evidence suggests that appropriate self-instructional behavior may facilitate gymnastics performance. The present study examined the comparative effectiveness of four different sets of instruction on the acquisition of gymnastics skills of varying difficulty. Positive, coping, and negative self-instructions and a set of neutral or didactic instructions were employed in the teaching of one simple and one complex gymnastics task. It was hypothesized that there would be an interaction between task complexity and instructional conditions. On the simple task, with physical requirements within the capabilities of the subjects, it was expected that all four groups would demonstrate preto posttraining improvement. On the more difficult task, it was hypothesized that coping self-instructions would best allow subjects to deal with task demands and would, therefore, be the most effective method of facilitating task acquisition. Furthermore, it was assumed that negative self-instructions would least benefit subjects by confirming task difficulty and minimizing subjects' motivation to attempt performance improvements.

Clear teaching: what is it?

Abstract: Summary and conclusions The attempt to answer the question: What is teacher clarity? has resulted in three studies. In the first students were asked to describe what teachers did that made learning clear. The result was a list of no low‐inference statements of clear teacher behaviors which were subjectively placed in one of twelve intermediate‐inference categories. In the second study students were given the no low‐inference statements and asked which of them were descriptive of their most clear or unclear teachers. The results of the study were a list of behaviors which discriminated between clear and unclear teachers, eight intermediate‐inference categories into which the behaviors could be grouped and the discovery that two of the intermediate‐inference categories ‐‐ explaining by using verbal or written examples and explains the work to be done and how to do it ‐‐ seemed most important because they contained the largest number of low‐inference discriminating behaviors. In the third study students were...

Trapping of Positive Muons at Vacancies in Quenched Aluminum

Abstract: Evidence is presented for the trapping of positive muons at monovacancies and divacancies in quenched aluminum. The annealing of vacancies as sensed by the muon-spin-rotation effect is compared to positron annihilation measurements on identically prepared samples, showing that whereas positrons are trapped primarily at small vacancy clusters, muons are trapped mainly at monovacancies and diavancancies. Furthermore, the data indicate that it may be possible to study monovacancies and divacancies separately with the muon-spin-rotation technique.

The Reduction of Cognitive Conflict: Effects of Various Types of Communication

Abstract: The effectiveness of training individuals to utilize Rapoport's “region of validity” technique (1960) as well as Gibb's “supportive” types of communication (1961) in reducing cognitive conflict was examined with a sample of 122 students participating in a version of Hammond's cognitive conflict paradigm (1966). Message content analysis was employed to discern the effect of various message types on conflict reduction. Analysis indicates that training in use of the “region of validity” technique and “supportive” types of communication reduces confict and that problem-oriented messages are positively associated with conflict reduction.

Geographic Variation in the Dwarf Crayfish, Cambarellus Puer Hobbs (Decapoda, Cambaridae) 1)

Abstract: Geographic variation in the dwarf crayfish, Cambarellus puer, was studied. Computations were based on ten morphologic measurements from 583 adult specimens representing 34 localities. Analyses were conducted using univariate and multivariate statistical techniques on scaled and non-scaled data for comparison of results. A matrix of correlation among nine scaled morphologic characters was computed and the first three principal components extracted; these accounted for 71.6% of the variation in the character set among males and 70.9% among females. Three-dimensional projections of localities onto principal components show that animals from southeastern Texas are longer and more narrow in proportion to cephalothorax length, while animals from southern Arkansas and northern Louisiana are proportionately shorter and wider. Populations occurring along the Mississippi River and west into southern Louisiana are intermediate in shape. The first three principal components extracted from the matrix of correlation among ten non-scaled characters accounted for 94.2% of the variation in males and 96.2% of the variation in females. Three-dimensional projections onto principal components of non-scaled characters indicate that animals from eastern populations are larger than animals from western populations. Projections on components I, II, and III of scaled data for males and females and on component I of non-scaled data for both sexes were analyzed with respect to 11 environmental variables. Evapotranspiration and longitude were significantly correlated with morphologic variation in C. puer. Net primary productivity appeared to influence body size in these animals.

Effect of feedback delay upon learned heart rate control.

Abstract: The effects of heart rate feedback delay upon bidirectional heart rate control were determined by comparing four groups of 10 subjects who received either: a) immediate feedback, or b) feedback that was delayed by 1.4 sec, 5 sec, or 14 sec. All subjects received 3 sessions of training which included 3 within-session phases, i.e. 2 (pre and post-feedback) Instructional Control phases during which subjects were instructed to speed or slow heart rate without the aid of feedback, and a Feedback phase during which bidirectional heart rate control was assisted by analogue heart rate feedback. Heart rate, chin EMG, and respiration rate were recorded during all phases. The results indicated that the magnitude of heart rate increases and decreases was systematically influenced by differing amounts of feedback delay. For increasing and decreasing heart rate, the group receiving immediate feedback showed superior heart rate control in comparison to groups which received feedback that was delayed by 14 sec. The strongest effects of feedback delay were evident during Feedback and the final Instructional Control phase. Only the group receiving immediate feedback improved HR control during Feedback and post-feedback Instructional Control phases. These findings were discussed in terms of a motor skills learning model for learned HR control. It was concluded that while many of the same parameters influence HR and motoric behavior, the two responses should not be regarded as equivalent.

Ultrastructure of the venom gland of the brown recluse spider, Loxosceles reclusa gertsch and mulaik (Araneae: Loxoscelidae)

Abstract: Studies were conducted to describe the histology and fine structure of the venom gland of the brown recluse spider, Loxosceles reclusa, and to provide information about venom production and secretion. The L. reclusa venom glands are paired bulbous structures, located in the cephalothoracic cavity; the glands diminish proximally into cuticle-lined ducts that lie within the cheliceral fangs. The secretory epithelium is surrounded by a thick, striated musculature composed of irregularly shaped muscle bundles and is ensheathed by a basement membrane. The venom-producing cells of the gland are pyramidal epithelial cells which extend into the central portion of the gland. The secretory products of the venom gland are produced in the basal area of the epithelial cells as Golgi-associated, membrane-bounded packets of different electron densities and subsequently fuse with a large apical vacuole. Morphological evidence of neuroglandular control of the apical venom release is presented. Evacuation of the gland, following venom release, is subsequently promoted by the constriction of the large musculature. Comparison of venom glands from electrically depleted and normalbiting situations reveals no morphological differences. This study provides the first description of the L. reclusa venom gland in addition to supporting the use of venom obtained from spiders by electrical stimulation.

Leadership style emphasis and related personality attributes

Abstract: This study examined differences in personality attributes between supervisors who placed equal emphasis on the people and task dimensions of leadership and those who tended to be exclusively people- or task-oriented. Using the Leadership Opinion Questionnaire as a measure of preference for a particular leadership style and the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire to assess personality attributes, it was found that subjects evidencing a preference for a “balanced” style tended to be more tough-minded, practical, conservative, and group-dependent.

Teaching Organizational Behavior: Current Patterns and Implications

Abstract: During the 1976-77 academic year, the Organizational Behavior Division of the Academy of Management established an Academic Program Committee to investigate the domain of Organizational Behavior, the methods of teaching it in the colleges of business, and means for improving its curricula. Eighteen universities were selected for examination because they were known to have highly rated programs and/or were known to have recent changes in OB offerings (Blau and Margulies, 1975; Brooker and Shinoda, 1976; Carter, 1977; Margulies and Blau, 1973). Faculty members at each institution were contacted and asked to trade responses to a semistructured interview

μ + diffusion and trapping in high purity and oxygen-doped Nb

Abstract: Data are presented for the temperature dependence of the muon depolarization rate between 10 K and 120 K for three samples of niobium of varying. purity. Two samples, each containing approximately 200 ppm substitutional Ta and interstitial concentrations of 10 ppm and 560 ppm (mostly O), respectively, were studied. A third sample containing only 3 ppm Ta and an estimated 10 ppm total interstitial impurities was also measured. The results indicate that even at the lowest temperatures studied the depolarization of the muon is dominated by traps associated with impurities.