Showing papers by "University of Pennsylvania published in 1988"

The Effect of National Culture on the Choice of Entry Mode

Abstract: Characteristics of national cultures have frequently been claimed to influence the selection of entry modes. This article investigates this claim by developing a theoretical argument for why culture should influence the choice of entry. Two hypotheses are derived which relate culture to entry mode choice, one focusing on the cultural distance between countries, the other on attitudes towards uncertainty avoidance. Using a multinomial logit model and controlling for other effects, the hypotheses are tested by analysing data on 228 entries into the United States market by acquisition, wholly owned greenfield, and joint venture. Empirical support for the effect of national culture on entry choice is found.

Joint ventures: Theoretical and empirical perspectives

Abstract: This paper compares the perspectives of transaction costs and strategic behavior in explaining the motivation to joint venture. In addition, a theory of joint ventures as an instrument of organizational learning is proposed and developed. Existing studies of joint ventures are examined in light of these theories. Data on the sectoral distribution and stability of joint ventures are presented.

Stock Market Prices Do Not Follow Random Walks: Evidence from a Simple Specification Test

Abstract: In this article we test the random walk hypothesis for weekly stock market returns by comparing variance estimators derived from data sampled at different frequencies. The random walk model is strongly rejected for the entire sampleperiod (1962-1985) and for all subperiods for a variety of aggregate returns indexes and size-sorted porfolios. Although the rejections are due largely to the behavior of small stocks, they cannot be attributed completely to the effects of infrequent trading or timevarying volatilities. Moreover, the rejection of the random walk for weekly returns does not support a mean-reverting model of assetprices.

A transaction costs theory of equity joint ventures

Abstract: This paper presents a transaction costs theory of equity joint ventures. It distinguishes between ‘scale’ and ‘link’ JVs. Scale JVs arise when parents seek to internalize a failing market, but indivisibilities due to scale or scope economies make full ownership of the relevant assets inefficient. Link JVs result from the simultaneous failing of the markets for the services of two or more assets whenever these assets are firm-specific public goods, and acquisition of the firm holding them would entail significant management costs.

Thinking and deciding

Abstract: Beginning with its first edition and through subsequent editions, Thinking and Deciding has established itself as the required text and important reference work for students and scholars of human cognition and rationality. In this fourth edition, first published in 2007, Jonathan Baron retains the comprehensive attention to the key questions addressed in the previous editions - how should we think? What, if anything, keeps us from thinking that way? How can we improve our thinking and decision making? - and his expanded treatment of topics such as risk, utilitarianism, Baye's theorem, and moral thinking. With the student in mind, the fourth edition emphasises the development of an understanding of the fundamental concepts in judgement and decision making. This book is essential reading for students and scholars in judgement and decision making and related fields, including psychology, economics, law, medicine, and business.

Response Determinants in Satisfaction Judgments

Abstract: The effects of five determinants of satisfaction are tested as well as individual differences in satisfaction formation. Manipulations of attribution, expectancy, performance, disconfirmation, and equity are written into stock market trading scenarios in a full factorial design. Results show that all main effects and four ordinal two-way interactions are significant. Then, an individual-level analysis is performed on the repeated measures data. Three clusters of subjects sharing similar response tendencies (disconfirmation, performance, and equity) are identified and related to investment attitudes, outcome attitudes, and demographics. No consistent relationships are discovered, suggesting that the response differences reflect deeper behavioral tendencies. Implications of this approach for satisfaction paradigms, satisfaction theory, and individual satisfaction response orientations are presented.

Perivascular microglial cells of the CNS are bone marrow-derived and present antigen in vivo.

Abstract: A crucial question in the study of immunological reactions in the central nervous system (CNS) concerns the identity of the parenchymal cells that function as the antigen-presenting cells in that organ. Rat bone marrow chimeras and encephalitogenic, major histocompatability--restricted T-helper lymphocytes were used to show that a subset of endogenous CNS cells, commonly termed "perivascular microglial cells," is bone marrow-derived. In addition, these perivascular cells are fully competent to present antigen to lymphocytes in an appropriately restricted manner. These findings are important for bone marrow transplantation and for neuroimmunological diseases such as multiple sclerosis.

The multinational corporation's degree of control over foreign subsidiaries : an empirical test of a transaction cost explanation

Abstract: Should a business function be vertically integrated? Increasingly, economists have acknowledged that this is the wrong question. The right question is to what degree a function should be integrated, whereby integration is a continuum anchored by the options of market and hierarchy (Williamson, 1985). Movement along the continuum from market contracting to unified governance is accompanied by an increased degree to which resources are placed at hazard. The firm is compensated for this by an increased level of control that it presumably will use "correctly" in order to generate superior profit outcomes. The central questions of transaction cost analysis are twofold: When will the firm need more control (that is, when do lower-control outcomes become less desirable), and when will the benefits of increased control more than offset the costs of resource commitment and risk? Oliver Williamson (1985) offers a theory to answer these questions. In this paper we examine empirically the theory's predictions in the context of the multinational corporation (MNC), which attempts to control the operations of foreign "subsidiaries" (business units) that it owns in whole or in part. We

Reputation and corporate strategy: A review of recent theory and applications

Abstract: A corporate reputation is a set of attributes ascribed to a firm, inferred from the firm's past actions. While the intuition behind reputation-building is hardly new, recent research has formalized the concept. We review this research and then, using examples, illustrate some of the strategic behavioral implications of these formal models.

Active perception

Abstract: Active perception (active vision specifically) is defined as a study of modeling and control strategies for perception. Local methods are distinguished from global models by their extent of application in space and time. The local models represent procedures and parameters such as optical distortions of the lens, focal lens, spatial resolution, bandpass filter, etc, The global models, on the other hand, characterize the overall performance and make predictions on how the individual modules interact. The control strategies are formulated as a search of such sequences of steps that would minimize a loss function while still seeking the most information. Examples are shown as the existence proof of the proposed theory on obtaining range from focus and stereo/vergence on 2-D segmentation of an image and 3-D shape parameterization. >

A new set of international comparisons of real product and price levels estimates for 130 countries, 1950–1985

Abstract: A new set of international comparisons covering the period 1950–85 is developed here for 121 market and 9 centrally planned economies. This new so-called Penn World Table (Mark 4), a completely revised and updated expansion of an equivalent table published by the authors in 1984, draws on the data of two previously unavailable international comparison benchmark studies. This article presents a detailed description of all estimation procedures, and excerpts from the overall DATA TABLE covering two years, 1980 and 1985. Three computer diskettes accompanying this article (and also available from the authors) contain the complete 36–year, 60,000 entry DATA TABLE in a form that economizes on scarce journal space and is immediately machine-readable. For the 121 market economies, the DATA TABLE gives annually, in addition to population and exchange rates, real product and price level estimates for four different national income concepts, and for the major subaggregates, consumption, investment, and government. Only population and real gross domestic product estimates are given for the nine centrally planned economies, however. This new table is one more step toward the goal of establishing a new worldwide System of Real National Accounts.

Liquidity and Market Structure

Abstract: Market liquidity is modeled as being determined by the demand and supply of immediacy. Exogenous liquidity events coupled with the risk of delayed trade create a demand for immediacy. Market makers supply immediacy by their continuous presence. and willingness to bear risk during the time period between the arrival of final buyers and sellers. In the long run the number of market makers adjusts to equate the supply and demand for immediacy. This determine the equilibrium level of liquidity in the market. The lower is the autocorrelation in rates of return, the higher is the equilibrium level of liquidity.

Systematic Data Collection

Abstract: Introduction to Structured Interviewing Defining a Domain and Free Listing Pile Sort I Single Sorts Pile Sort II Successive Sorts and the Construction of Taxonomies and Trees Triadic Comparisons Rating Scales Rank Order Methods Complete and Partial Techniques Balanced-Incomplete Block Designs Sentence Frame Formats Other Common Structured Formats Dichotomous, Multiple Choice, Fill-in-the-Blank, Matching, Direct Estimation, and Pick N Reliability, Consensus, and Sample Size Validity and Replication with Variations

Diffusing wave spectroscopy

Abstract: We obtain useful information from the intensity autocorrelations of light scattered from systems which exhibit strong multiple scattering. A phenomenological model, which exploits the diffusive nature of the transport of light, is shown to be in excellent agreement with experimental data for several different scattering geometries. The dependence on geometry provides an important experimental control over the time scale probed. We call this technique diffusing wave spectroscopy, and illustrate its utility by studying diffusion in a strongly interacting colloidal glass.

Banking panics and business cycles

Abstract: THE nearly universal experience of banking panics has led many governments to regulate the banking industry. Economists, too, have increasingly focused on panics as evidence of bank uniqueness. Yet, competing theories to explain banking panics have never been tested. Are banking panics caused by the same relations governing consumer behavior during nonpanic times? Are panics random events, or are panics associated with movements in expected returns, in particular, with movements in perceived risk which are predictable on the basis of prior information? If so, what is the relevant information? Using newly constructed data this study addresses these questions by examination of the seven panics during the U.S. National Banking Era (1863-1914). Depositor behavior under subsequent monetary regimes is also examined. In all, one hundred years of depositor behavior are examined. A common view of panics is that they are random events, perhaps self-confirming equilibria in settings with multiple equilibria, caused by shifts in the beliefs of agents which are unrelated to the real economy. An alternative view makes panics less mysterious. Agents cannot discriminate between the riskiness of various banks because they lack bank-specific information. Aggregate information may then be used to assess risk, in which case it can occur that all banks may be perceived to be riskier. Consumers then withdraw enough to cause a panic. While the former hypothesis is not testable, it suggests that panics are special events and implies that banks are inherently flawed. The latter hypothesis is testable; it suggests that movements in variables predicting deposit riskiness cause panics just as such movements would be used to price such risk at all other times. This hypothesis links panics to occurrences of a threshold value of some variable predicting the riskiness of bank deposits.

Structural characterization of folding intermediates in cytochrome c by H-exchange labelling and proton NMR

Abstract: To understand the process of protein folding, it will be necessary to obtain detailed structural information on folding intermediates. This difficult problem is being studied by using hydrogen exchange and rapid mixing to label transient structural intermediates, with subsequent analysis of the proton-labelling pattern by two-dimensional nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Results for cytochrome c show that the method provides the spatial and temporal resolution necessary to monitor structure formation at many defined sites along the polypeptide chain on a timescale ranging from milliseconds to minutes.

Olfactory dysfunction in parkinsonism A general deficit unrelated to neurologic signs, disease stage, or disease duration

Abstract: To explore the nature of the olfactory dysfunction associated with Parkinson's disease (PD), 81 PD patients who scored well on a cognitive screening test were administered the 40-odorant University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test; 38 were additionally given a forced-choice phenylethyl alcohol odor detection threshold test. Clinical ratings of 11 neurologic symptoms (three bilateral) were obtained at the time of testing, and odor identification was retested in 24 patients at intervals ranging from 5 to 39 months. Relative to matched controls, the PD patients exhibited consistent and marked decrements on both types of olfactory tests (ps less than 0.0001). The odor identification deficit was not restricted to any subset of odorants and did not evidence longitudinal change. A factor analysis of the intercorrelations among the variables yielded six easily interpretable factors: general motor, oral motor, olfactory function, cognitive function, tremor, and gender. Olfactory test scores were independent of all other measures, including disease stage and duration. Seventy-two percent of the PD patients were unaware of a smell disorder before testing; those who were aware had significantly lower test scores. A statistical comparison of PD patients' olfactory test scores to those obtained from Alzheimer's disease patients found the olfactory disorders of these diseases to be indistinguishable. The data support the hypothesis that the olfactory deficit of PD is a general and stable one which likely occurs early in the disease process.

Scale for suicide ideation: Psychometric properties of a self-report version

Abstract: A self-report version of the Scale for Suicide Ideation (SSI) was administered to 50 inpatients diagnosed with mixed DSM-III psychiatric disorders and 55 outpatients with affective disorders. The self-report SSI was written for both paper-and-pencil and computer administration. The correlations between the self-reported and clinically rated versions for both inpatients and outpatients were greater than .90, which suggests strong concurrent validity. The Cronbach coefficient alphas for the paper-and-pencil and computer versions were also in the .90s and indicated high internal consistency. Furthermore, the mean SSI scores of the computer version for both the inpatients and outpatients were higher than the mean SSI scores of the clinical ratings; the patients described more severe suicide ideation than clinicians reported.

Introns increase transcriptional efficiency in transgenic mice.

Abstract: Experiments were designed to test the effect of introns on gene expression in transgenic mice. Four different pairs of gene constructs, which were identical except that one member of each pair lacked all introns, were compared for expression of mRNA after introduction into the murine germ line by microinjection of fertilized eggs. The expression of two chimeric genes, made by fusing either the mouse metallothionein I or the rat elastase 1 promoter/enhancer to the rat growth hormone gene, was assayed in fetal liver or pancreas, respectively, while two natural genes, an oligonucleotide-marked mouse metallothionein I gene and the human beta-globin gene, were assayed in fetal liver. In each case there was, on average, 10- to 100-fold more mRNA produced from the intron-containing construct. Moreover, mRNA levels were proportional to the relative rates of transcription that were measured in isolated nuclei. However, when the expression of the two mouse metallothionein I gene-based constructs was tested after transfection into cultured cells, little difference was observed. These observations suggest that introns play a role in facilitating transcription of microinjected genes and that this effect may be manifest only on genes exposed to developmental influences.

Structural evidence for direct interaction between the molecular components of the transverse tubule/sarcoplasmic reticulum junction in skeletal muscle.

Abstract: The architecture of the junctional sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) and transverse tubule (T tubule) membranes and the morphology of the two major proteins isolated from these membranes, the ryanodine receptor (or foot protein) and the dihydropyridine receptor, have been examined in detail. Evidence for a direct interaction between the foot protein and a protein component of the junctional T tubule membrane is presented. Comparisons between freeze-fracture images of the junctional SR and rotary-shadowed images of isolated triads and of the isolated foot protein, show that the foot protein has two domains. One is the large hydrophilic foot which spans the junctional gap and is composed of four subunits. The other is a hydrophobic domain which presumably forms the SR Ca2+-release channel and which also has a fourfold symmetry. Freeze-fracture images of the junctional T tubule membranes demonstrate the presence of diamond-shaped clusters of particles that correspond exactly in position to the subunits of the feet protein. These results suggest the presence of a large junctional complex spanning the two junctional membranes and intervening gap. This junctional complex is an ideal candidate for a mechanical coupling hypothesis of excitation-contraction coupling at the triadic junction.

Putting Hierarchy in Its Place

Abstract: On the face of it, an exploration of the idea of the "native" in anthropological discourse may not appear to have much to do with the genealogy of the idea of hierarchy. But I wish to argue that hierarchy is one of an anthology of images in and through which anthropologists have frozen the contribution of specific cultures to our understanding of the human condition. Such metonymic freezing has its roots in a deeper assumption of anthropological thought regarding the boundedness of cultural units and the confinement of the varieties of human consciousness within these boundaries. The idea of the "native" is the principal expression of this assumption, and thus the genealogy of hierarchy needs to be seen as one local instance of the dynamics of the construction of natives. Although the term native has a respectable antiquity in Western thought and has often been used in positive and self-referential ways, it has gradually become the technical preserve of anthropologists. Although some other words taken from the vocabulary of missionaries, explorers, and colonial administrators have been expunged from anthropological usage, the term native has retained its currency, serving as a respectable substitute for terms like primitive, about which we now feel some embarrassment. Yet the term native, whether we speak of "native categories," or "native belief-systems" or "native agriculture," conceals certain ambiguities. We sense this ambiguity, for example, in the restricted use of the adjective nativistic, which is typically used not only for one sort of revivalism, but for revivalism among certain kinds of population. Who is a "native" (henceforth without quotation marks) in the anthropological usage? The quick answer to this question is that the native is a person who is born in (and thus belongs to) the place the anthropologist is observing or writing about. This sense of the word native is fairly narrowly, and neutrally, tied to its Latin etymology. But do we use the term native uniformly to refer to people who are born in certain places and, thus, belong to them? We do not. We have tended

Analysis of CFAR processors in homogeneous background

Abstract: Five different constant false alarm rate (CFAR) radar processing schemes are considered and their performances analyzed in homogeneous and nonhomogeneous backgrounds, the latter specifically being the multiple target environment and regions of clutter transitions. The average detection threshold for each of the CFAR schemes was computed to measure and compare the detection performance in homogeneous noise background. The exponential noise model was used for clear and clutter backgrounds to get closed-form expressions. The processor types compared are: the cell-averaging CFAR, the 'greatest of' CFAR, the 'smallest of' CFAR, the ordered-statistics CFAR, and a modified ordered-statistics processor called the trimmed-mean CFAR. >

Bacteroides gingivalis, Bacteroides intermedius and Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans in human periodontal diseases

Abstract: Bacteroides gingivalis, Bacteroides intermedius and Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans seem to be major pathogens in advancing periodontitis in man. First, these organisms are recovered in higher prevalence and proportions from progressive periodontitis lesions than from quiescent periodontal sites. Second, antibody levels against B. gingivalis and A. actinomycetemcomitans are markedly elevated in serum and gingival crevice fluid of periodontitis patients compared to normal controls. Third, B. gingivalis and B. intermedius elaborate potent proteases and A. actinomycetemcomitans various noxious substances which have the potential to perturb important host defenses and to disintegrate key constituents of the periodontal tissues. Monitoring these bacteria in advanced periodontal lesions may greatly assist the assessment of treatment efficacy and risk of further periodontal breakdown.

Contributions to the Problem of Approximation of Equidistant Data by Analytic Functions

Abstract: Introduction. Let there be given a sequence of ordinates $$ \left\{ {{y_n}} \right\}\quad \left( {n = 0, \pm 1 \pm 2, \ldots } \right), $$ corresponding to all integral values of the variable x = n. If these ordinates are the values of a known analytic function F(x), then the problem of interpolation between these ordinates has an obvious and precise meaning: we are required to compute intermediate values F(x) to the same accuracy to which the ordinates are known. Undoubtedly, the most convenient tool for the solution of this problem is the polynomial central interpolation method. It uses the polynomial of degree k — 1, interpolating k successive ordinates, as an approximation to F(x) only within a unit interval in x, centrally located with respect to its k defining ordinates. Assuming k fixed, successive approximating arcs for F(x) are thus obtained which present discontinuities on passing from one arc to the next if k is odd, or discontinuities in their first derivatives if k is even (see section 2.121). Actually these discontinuities are irrelevant in our present case of an analytic function F(x). Indeed, if the interpolated values obtained are sufficiently accurate, these discontinuities will be apparent only if we force the computation beyond the intrinsic accuracy of the y n.

Current concepts: immunology. Monocytes and macrophages.

Abstract: MACROPHAGES play a central and essential part in the immune response by presenting antigen to lymphocytes during the development of specific immunity and by serving as supportive, "accessory" cells...

Behavioral Studies of Pavlovian Conditioning

Abstract: The purpose of this review is to bring to the attention of neuroscientists some of the current thinking of psychologists who study learning processes from a behavioral perspective. The past 20 years have seen enormous changes in the ways that psychologists conceptualize and study elementary learning processes; however, many of those changes are poorly appreciated by the neuroscience community at large. The review is organized into two parts. First, I described a framework in which to think about the conduct of learning experiments (Rescoria & Holland, 1976). Although that framework will seem simple minded to some, it provides an overall structure within which to place the study of learning, a structure that helps one avoid certain distressingly common conceptual pitfalls. Second, I describe some properties of a carefully stud­ ied example of learning that has dominated modern theorizing: Pavlovian conditioning. That description emphasizes not only basic data but also certain key notions in modern theories of pavlovian associative learning. Of course, it is impossible to provide an exhaustive review of either the theory or data in this area. Instead, my goal is to give a flavor of current thinking.