Showing papers by "University of Wisconsin-Madison published in 1982"

An Investigation into the Determinants of Customer Satisfaction

Abstract: The authors investigate whether it is necessary to include disconfirmation as an intervening variable affecting satisfaction as is commonly argued, or whether the effect of disconfirmation is adequ...

Development of reliable and valid short forms of the marlowe-crowne social desirability scale

Abstract: Developed, on the basis of responses from 608 undergraduate students to the 33-item Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale, three short forms of 11, 12, and 13 items. The psychometric characteristics of these three forms and three other short forms developed by Strahan and Gerbasi (1972) were investigated and comparisons made. Results, in the form of internal consistency reliability, item factor loadings, short form with Marlowe-Crowne total scale correlations, and correlations between Marlowe-Crowne short forms and the Edwards Social Desirability Scale, indicate that psychometrically sound short forms can be constructed. Comparisons made between the short forms examined in this investigation suggest the 13-item form as a viable substitute for the regular 33-item Marlowe-Crowne scale.

Measurement of Linear Dependence and Feedback between Multiple Time Series

Abstract: Measures of linear dependence and feedback for multiple time series are defined. The measure of linear dependence is the sum of the measure of linear feedback from the first series to the second, linear feedback from the second to the first, and instantaneous linear feedback. The measures are nonnegative, and zero only when feedback (causality) of the relevant type is absent. The measures of linear feedback from one series to another can be additively decomposed by frequency. A readily usable theory of inference for all of these measures and their decompositions is described; the computations involved are modest.

Country-of-origin effects on product evaluations

Abstract: This article reviews the literature regarding the effect of country of origin on buyer evaluations of products. The issue is important for countries (especially resource-poor, developing countries) that need to increase manufactured exports and for firms that source products in countries different from where sold. Marketing inferences are drawn, and implications for future research are developed.

Multilateral Comparisons of Output, Input, and Productivity Using Superlative Index Numbers

Abstract: Early in this century economists began to give serious attention to making comparisons using index number techniques. There was extensive debate as to which index number formulas were the most appropriate for carrying out comparisons.1 The debate was extensive in no small part due to the lack of agreement as to criteria for preferring one formula over another. In recent decades there has been a resurgence of interest in index numbers, resulting from discoveries that the properties of index numbers can be directly related to the properties of the underlying aggregator functions that they represent. The underlying functions - production functions, utility functions, etc. - are the building blocks of economic theory, and the study of relationships between these functions and index number formulas has been referred to by Samuelson and Swamy (I974) as the economic theory of index numbers.2 A key development in the economic theory of index numbers has been the demonstration that numerous index number formulas can be explicitly derived from particular aggregator functions. This development provides a powerful new basis for selecting an index number procedure. Rather than starting the selection process with a number of plausible index number formulas, one can specify an aggregator function with desirable properties and derive the corresponding index number procedure. The resulting index is termed exact for that particular aggregator function. Diewert (I976) makes a strong case for limiting the consideration of aggregator functions to those which are flexible, i.e. those which can provide a second order approximation to an arbitrary aggregator function. He has termed index numbers that are exact for flexible aggregator functions 'superlative '. There are two superlative index numbers that are of particular interest - the Fisher Ideal index and the Tornqvist-Theil-translog index. Fisher (I 922) dubbed the following index Ideal since it best satisfied his several criteria for choosing among index numbers:

Hummocky stratification: Significance of its variable bedding sequences

Abstract: Hummocky cross-stratification is an important structure formed on the shoreface and shelf by waves. It characterizes a wave-dominated facies. Attention to its variability can reveal much about sedimentary history and paleogeography. Diagnostic traits are antiformal hummocks and synformal swales defined by randomly oriented, even lamination with dip angles and truncation angles of < 15°. Hummocky stratification forms primarily in silt to fine sand. Although size grading of individual laminae is not characteristic, concentrations of mica and plant detritus in the tops of many laminae indicate a shape sorting. Parting lineation is common. Hummocky beds vary in thickness from a few centimetres to 5 or 6 m; bed sets may be tens of metres thick. Hummocky stratification apparently is formed most commonly by redeposition below normal fair-weather wave base of fine sand delivered offshore by flooding rivers and scour of the shoreface or shoals by large waves. Deposition involves both fallout from suspension and lateral tractive flow due to wave oscillation. There is evidence that, under intense oscillatory flow, large waves drape sand over an irregular scoured surface and also mold sand into roughly circular, unoriented hummocks and swales. We postulate that these circumstances are analogous to the transition to upper flat-bed conditions in unidirectional flow. Hummocky stratification shows important variability. It occurs in both regressive (progradational) and transgressive strata in intervals a few centimetres to 175 m thick and may be interstratified with mudstone, sandstone, or conglomerate. Hummocky stratification commonly occurs in repetitive successions with the products of individual depositional events being clearest where mudstone separates hummocky beds. An idealized hummocky stratification sequence , which can serve a purpose similar to the Bouma sequence for graded beds, is as follows (bottom to top): first-order scoured base (± sole marks); characteristic hummocky zone with several second-order truncation surfaces separating individual undulating lamina sets; a zone of flat laminae ; a zone with well-oriented ripple cross-laminae and symmetrical ripple forms; all overlain by a more or less burrowed mud-stone or siltstone . This sequence reflects waning of storm waves followed by fair-weather sedimentation and burrowing. Variations from this idealized conceptual sequence involve omissions and/or expansions of one or more of the zones. The most common variant is amalgamation either by the stacking of successive hummocky zones or by intense bioturbation that obliterates original boundaries between depositional units. Other variations include units commencing with flat-lamination; units with predominant cross-lamination; and lenticular micro-hummocky lenses within shale. Combinations of relative sand supply, relative depth, tidal range, frequency, duration and magnitude of storms, and relative productivity for a burrowing benthos must account for such differences. Further documentation of variations in hummocky stratification should reveal important details about these factors.

A new look at the saturn system: the voyager 2 images.

Abstract: Voyager 2 photography has complemented that of Voyager I in revealing many additional characteristics of Saturn and its satellites and rings. Saturn's atmosphere contains persistent oval cloud features reminiscent of features on Jupiter. Smaller irregular features track out a pattern of zonal winds that is symmetric about Saturn's equator and appears to extend to great depth. Winds are predominantly eastward and reach 500 meters per second at the equator. Titan has several haze layers with significantly varying optical properties and a northern polar "collar" that is dark at short wavelengths. Several satellites have been photographed at substantially improved resolution. Enceladus' surface ranges from old, densely cratered terrain to relatively young, uncratered plains crossed by grooves and faults. Tethys has a crater 400 kilometers in diameter whose floor has domed to match Tethys' surface curvature and a deep trench that extends at least 270° around Tethys' circumference. Hyperion is cratered and irregular in shape. Iapetus' bright, trailing hemisphere includes several dark-floored craters, and Phoebe has a very low albedo and rotates in the direction opposite to that of its orbital revolution with a period of 9 hours. Within Saturn's rings, the "birth" of a spoke has been observed, and surprising azimuthal and time variability is found in the ringlet structure of the outer B ring. These observations lead to speculations about Saturn's internal structure and about the collisional and thermal history of the rings and satellites.

The Reliability and Validity of Key Informant Data from Dyadic Relationships in Marketing Channels

Abstract: Key informant reports from both sides of a set of wholesaler-retailer dyads are analyzed to investigate the convergent and discriminant validity of the measures. These measures, derived from a poli...

The prevalence and severity of pain in cancer.

Abstract: The frequency, severity, and disruptiveness of pain related by 667 cancer patients are reported. The patients, all seen at a comprehensive cancer center, had cancers of the breast, colon and rectum, prostate, or various gynecologic sites. As expected, the proportion of patients with pain varied according to primary site and according to degree of progression of the disease. Pain, when present, was often of at least moderate severity and was felt to interfere with patients' activity and enjoyment of life to a moderate to severe extent. Degree of interference with activity and enjoyment of life was greater when the pain was caused by cancer than when it had another cause. Implications of these findings for professional and lay education and for treatment are discussed.

Rheological Evaluation of Maturing Cheddar Cheese

Abstract: A number of Cheddar cheese samples of different age, pH and moisture content have been examined rheologically and electrophoretically to determine whether the progressive changes in cheese texture were related to casein proteolysis. The force-compression curves obtained by crushing cubes of cheese between small flat plates at constant speed were different for the different cheese samples and were affected by the moisture content, pH and extent of αsl-casein proteolysis that had taken place in the cheese. These results support a model of cheese micro structure in which an extensive network involving αsl- casein molecules traverses the cheese and as the cheese ripens, chymosin cleavage of αsl-casein weakens the protein network. Such a model explains the rapid decrease in Cheddar cheese yield-force that occurs during the early stages of ripening.

An ARIMA-Model-Based Approach to Seasonal Adjustment

Abstract: This article proposes a model-based procedure to decompose a time series uniquely into mutually independent additive seasonal, trend, and irregular noise components. The series is assumed to follow the Gaussian ARIMA model. Properties of the procedure are discussed and an actual example is given.

Ethylene, Ethane, Acetaldehyde, and Ethanol Production By Plants under Stress

Abstract: Red pine (Pinus resinosa Ait.) and paper birch (Betula papyrifera Marsh.) seedlings exposed to sulfur dioxide produced acetaldehyde and ethanol, and exhibited increased production of ethylene and ethane. Gas chromatographic measurement of head space gas from incubation tubes containing leaves or seedlings was a simple method of simultaneously measuring all four compounds. Increased ethylene production had two phases, a moderate increase from the beginning of the stress period and a large increase just prior to appearance of leaf lesions. Ethane production in SO2-stressed plants did not increase until lesions appeared. Acetaldehyde and ethanol production began within 6 hours at 0.3 microliter per liter SO2 and 24 hours at 0.1 microliter per liter SO2 and continued throughout a 6-day fumigation. Production of acetaldehyde and ethanol continued when plants were removed to clean air for up to 2 days. A higher concentration of SO2 (0.5 microliter per liter) induced acetaldehyde and ethanol production within 2 hours of the start of fumigation of birch and pine seedlings. A number of other stresses, including water deficit, freezing, and ozone exposure induced production of acetaldehyde and ethanol. Production of these compounds was not due to hypoxia, as the O2 partial pressure in the incubation vessels did not decline. Increasing the O2 partial pressure to 300 millimeters Hg did not affect production of these compounds. Production of ethylene, acetaldehyde, and ethanol declined when more than 80% of the leaf area became necrotic, while ethane production was linearly related to the percentage of necrosis. A number of woody and herbaceous plant species produced acetaldehyde and ethanol in response to freezing stress, while others did not. Measurement of these four compounds simultaneously in the gas phase may be a valuable method for monitoring plant stress, particularly air pollution stress.

The illusion of knowing: Failure in the self-assessment of comprehension

Abstract: The illusion of knowing is the belief that comprehension has been attained when, in fact, comprehension has failed. In the present experiment, the illusion was defined operationally as having occurred when readers who failed to find a contradiction in a text rated their comprehension of the text as high. Texts containing contradictions between adjacent sentences were presented, and readers were explicitly asked to search for contradictions. The frequency of illusions was greater when the contradictory sentences came at the end of three-paragraph texts rather than at the end of one-paragraph texts and when the contradictory information was syntactically marked as new. These results are interpreted within a framework that emphasizes that the goal of reading expository text is to establish coherence within and among sentences. In addition, the results are apparently incompatible with the notion that readers engage in active and accurate on-line monitoring of the degree to which this goal is met.

Automated Visual Inspection: A Survey

Abstract: This paper surveys publications, reports, and articles dealing with automated visual inspection for industry The references are organized according to their contents: overview and discussions, rationales, components and design considerations, commercially available systems, applications A number of applications and their inspection methodologies are discussed in detail: the inspection of printed circuit boards, photomasks, integrated circuit chips Other inspection applications are listed as a bibliography A list of selectively annotated references in commercially available visual inspection tools is also included

Stabilization of solutions of a degenerate nonlinear diffusion problem

Abstract: (I) [ 4 = (u% + f(u) in (-L,L) X R+, u(tL,t)=O in R+, u(x, 0) = uo(x) in [-L,L], where m > 1 is a parameter, f is locally Lipschitz continuous, f(0) = 0, and u. is bounded. Problems of this form arise in a number of areas of science; for instance, in models for gas or fluid flow in porous media [2] and for the spread of certain biological populations [13, 161. This paper is divided into two parts. In part I we consider what may be called the motivating example, problem I*, which consists of problem I with the special choice f(u) = U(1 U)(U a) (1) for suitably restricted parameters a. We begin by describing in detail the set % = %(L) of nonnegative equilibrium solutions of problem I*. Clearly 8(L) contains the trivial solution u = 0 for all L > 0. Write 8*(L) = E(L)\(O). In the description of Z*(L) there are two critical parameter values Lo and L1 with 0 < Lo < L1 < + =J. We show that: (i) g*(L) = 4 for 0 < L < LO;

The Sensitivity of the African-Asian Monsoonal Climate to Orbital Parameter Changes for 9000 Years B.P. in a Low-Resolution General Circulation Model.

Abstract: The earth's orbital parameters, precession, obliquity and eccentricity, produce solar radiation differences (compared to present) of ∼7% at the solstices 9000 years before present (B.P.): more radiation in June-July-August, less in December-January-February. When this amplified seasonal cycle of solar radiation is used to drive a low-resolution general circulation model, an intensified monsoon circulation is simulated for Northern Hemisphere summer. The annual- and global-average land surface temperature and the annual- and global-average precipitation are the same for the simulated 9000 years B.P. climate and the present climate. Certain features of the simulated monsoon climate from this orbital-parameter sensitivity experiment agree with the paleoclimatic evidence.

Generalized equations and their solutions, part II: Applications to nonlinear programming

Abstract: We prove that if the second-order sufficient condition and constraint regularity hold at a local minimizer of a nonlinear programming problem, then for sufficiently smooth perturbations of the constraints and objective function the set of local stationary points is nonempty and continuous; further, if certain polyhedrality assumptions hold (as is usually the case in applications), then the local minimizers, the stationary points and the multipliers all obey a type of Lipschitz condition.

Equivalence of Relational Algebra and Relational Calculus Query Languages Having Aggregate Functions

Abstract: Aggregate functtons m relattonal query languages allow intricate reports to be written. In this paper aggregate functions are precisely defined The definition does not use the notion of "duphcates." gelattonal algebra and relattonal calculus are extended m a general and natural fashton to include aggregate functions It is shown that the languages so extended have eqmvalent expressive power

Left-handed Z-DNA is induced by supercoiling in physiological ionic conditions

Abstract: In physiological ionic conditions (200mM NaCl), the (dC–dG)16 and (dC–dG)13 blocks in plasmid pRW751 are in a left-handed state when the negative superhelical density of the plasmid is greater than 0.072. As the salt concentration decreases or when (dmC–dG) sequences are present, less negative supercoiling is required to induce the right- to left-handed DNA transition. Furthermore, the single strand-specific nuclease, S1, recognizes and cleaves aberrant structural features at the junction between neighbouring right- and left-handed DNA regions.

An Analysis of Transformations Revisited, Rebutted

Abstract: : In a paper written in 1964, Box and Cox described a method for estimating transformations and showed how in suitable cases valuable increases in simplicity and efficiency were possible. Since that time, this technique has enjoyed wide practical use and considerable success. However, a recent theoretical paper by Bickel and Doksum (1981) seems to suggest that serious dangers are associated with the employment of this method, and speaks of 'instability' and 'cost' of estimation of the transformation. These difficulties seem to be associated with (1) examples which common sense would rule out, namely situations where the effect of transformation on the data is almost linear, so that it is a matter of indifference which transformation is used; (2) the idea that it makes sense to state conclusions in terms of a number measured on an arbitrary scale; (3) failure to take proper account of the Jacobian of the transformation.

The syntax and semantics of when-questions

Abstract: 0. This paper presents a novel account of the syntax and semantics of questions, making use of the framework for linguistic description developed by Richard Montague (1974). Certain features of the proposal are based on work by N. Belnap (1963), L. Aqvist (1965), C. L. Baker (1968, 1970), S. Kuno and J. Robinson (1972), C. L. Hamblin (1973), E. Keenan and R. Hull (1973), J. Hintikka (1974), Lewis (1975), and D. Wunderlich (1975), but it differs from all of its predecessors in one way or another. I will start with a number of observations which provide the basis for the treatment of questions presented in the second part of the paper and conclude with a summary and a brief discussion of how the proposed description compares with recent transformational analyses.

Cytoarchitectonic sexual dimorphisms of the medial preoptic and anterior hypothalamic areas in guinea pig, rat, hamster, and mouse.

Abstract: A cytoarchitectonic analysis is presented of a configuration of cells which extends through the medial preoptic and rostral part of the anterior hypothalamus of the guinea pig, rat, hamster, and mouse. Within that configuration, called here the sexually dimorphic nuclear complex of the medial preoptic-anterior hypothalamic area (SDNC-MPAH), there is nearly continuous variation in cellular distribution or packing density as one pro-ceeds rostrocaudally, as well as variations between females and males at corresponding levels. The major cell groups comprising SDNC-MPAH are the medial preoptic nucleus (MP) and the preventricular portion of the periventricular nucleus (Pep) rostrally, and the anterior hypothalamic nucleus (AH), anterior portion of periventricular nucleus, (Pea), and bed nucleus of stria terminalis (ST) caudally. The most striking cytoarchitectonic dimorphisms usually involve MP and AH. In all four species examined, MP is larger and, except for the mouse, appears to be more densely cellular in the female than in the male. Most prominently in the rat and guinea pig, AH is densely cellular throughout in the female, including the subependymal zone, whereas in the male AH lies at a distance from the third ventricle, separated from the ependyma by a cell poor zone. The significance of these findings may lie in the fact that the region exhibiting the sexual dimorphisms has been shown to be involved in the regulation of reproductive Functions which are sexually differentiated and developmentally influenced by the fetal or perinatal hormonal milieu in some species.

Management of pain during debridement: a survey of U.S. burn units

Abstract: To determine how burn pain is assessed and managed during debridement, questionnaires were sent to 151 U.S. burn facilities. 181 staff members from 93 burn units responded. For a typical adult patient, most respondents preferred a narcotic, but the dosages varied widely without a corresponding variation in assessed pain. The assessment of pain also did not vary with the type of analgesia used or the route of administration (i.v., i.m., p.o or gas). Half the respondents used psychotropic drugs in conjunction with narcotics, but without a reduction in dosage of the narcotic or a reduction in assessed pain. For a typical burned child, although more respondents recommended using no narcotics or no psychotropics or no analgesics at all, the assessed pain for children and adults was the same, i.e. in the moderate range. Pain during debridement was rate as more severe by those with less job experience and by those who gave higher dosages of analgesics before the procedure. The survey's findings indicate a need to reevaluate current analgesic practices for debridement and to document pain and pain relief.