Showing papers by "University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee published in 1975"

The Innovative Communicator in the Diffusion Process

Abstract: Both innovativeness and opinion leadership have been extensively investigated in past research. This article profiles the characteristics of “innovative communicators”—consumers who are both innova...

Denudation studies: can we assume stream steady state?

Abstract: Contemporary stream sediment loads are dubious indicators of regional denudation. Recent analysis of ten river basins in the southeastern United States indicates that of the material eroded from upland slopes since European settlement, only about 5 percent has been exported. The remainder, alluvium and colluvium, will probably not be exported because of extensive reservoir impoundments.

Socioeconomic Product Risk and Patronage Preferences of Retail Shoppers

Abstract: CONVENTIONAL retailers have faced vigorous competition from discount stores ove the past decade. The discount stores, in spite of the somewhat gloomy projections for their future that were made in the early 1960s,' have experienced steady growth. Since 1960, their total sales volume has risen fifteen fold. In 1973, the general merchandise sales of discount stores reached $23.1 billion and accounted for 19.5% of the sales of major retailers of general merchandise.2 In comparison, the corresponding figures for the conventional department stores were $17.1 billion and 14.5%, respectively.3 The extent to which competing retailers will be able to maintain their market positions in the face of the challenge of the discount stores depends on the extent to which they can creatively adapt their operations to the changing patterns of consumer shopping behavior and consumer patronage attitudes toward different retail store types. Industry surveys have shown that the patronage of discount houses is by no means limited to blue-collar workers, but is widely prevalent among higher occupational groups.4 This does not necessarily mean, however, that consumers in b th lower and higher socioeconomic classes have similar patronage attitudes toward discount stores for all their purchase needs. Rich, for example, investigated the effect of income on the purchase of nine selected items at discount stores.5 He observed that income had relatively little effect on the purchase of men's socks and shirt , large appliances, towels and bed linens, and kitchen utensils and small appliances. In the case of coats, better dresses, housedresses, undergarments, hosiery, and children's clothing, the incidence of purchase at discount stores decreased as income increased. This was most true of coats and better dresses, and least noticeable in the case of children's clothing. Dardis and Sandler, in their study of discount store shoppers in a small city, found a significant and inverse relationship be ween the shopper's social class and the amount of his purchases of clothing and household textiles at discount stores.6 These studies suggest that consumers in different socioeconomic segments differ in their patronage of discount stores for some types of products but do not for others.' An important question may thus be raised: for which types of purchases can one expect a significant relationship between a shopper's social class and his patronage attitudes toward discount stores? It is the thesis of the pres1. William R. Davidson and Alton F. Doody, "The Future of Discounting," JOURNAL OF MARKETING, Vol. 27 (January 1963), pp. 36-40; William R. Davidson, "The End of the Discount House as a Distinctive Type of Retailing Institution," Department Store Economist, Vol. 24 (December 1961), pp. 24-28; and Alfred R. Oxenfeldt, "The Retailing Revolution: Why and Whither?" Journal of Retailing, Vol. 36 (Fall 1960), pp. 157-162. 2. "The True Look of the Discount Industry," The Discount Merchandiser, Vol. 13 (June 1973), p. 32. 3. Same reference as footnote 2, p. 34. 4. Discount Store Study (Cleveland: The Cleveland Press, 1970), p. 20; and "The True Look of the Discount Industry," The Discount Merchandiser, Vol. 11 (June 1971), pp. 29-TL.

Probability distribution of particles created by a black hole

Abstract: It has been demonstrated by Hawking that a spherical black hole formed by collapse will create particles, and that the average number of outgoing particles created in each mode satisfies a thermal distribution law. Recently, Wald has shown that the probability distribution of the number of outgoing particles in each mode, and not only the average number, obeys the thermal distribution law. In this paper, we give a simpler and more direct derivation of the blackbody probability distribution of the emitted particles.

Grade and ability predictions in an introductory programming course

Abstract: Two regression equations are derived to predict grade and ability in an introductory FORTRAN course. College GPA, programming experience, and career orientation are shown to be significant positive predictors; working in groups and time spent on the course are unexpectedly shown to be negative correlates. The implications of these findings for methods of teaching programming are discussed.

Encoding sensitivities to phonological markedness and transitional probability: evidence from spoonerisms

Abstract: This study examined laboratory-induced spoonerisms; the type of speech error in which a phoneme unit from one word switches position with a phoneme unit from another word Three experiments test hypotheses which assume that spoonerism errors are facilitated by the presence of certain inherent differences between the switched phonological units Experiment I tests for facilitation based upon differences in the phonological markedness of the switched units Experiment II and Experiment III test for facilitation based upon differences in the second-order transitional probabilities and third order transitional probabilities (respectively) of the switched units Evidence of transitional probability effects was found, with implications for the phonological encoding processing of both naturally occurring spoonerisms and normal speech

Qualitative Dimensions of Coalition Payoffs: Evidence From European Party Governments, 1945-1970

Abstract: on the earlier research of Browne and Franklin (1973; Browne, 1973: ch. 5), who attempted to describe the quantitative properties of payoff distributions in this same context. These authors take as their point of departure Gamson’s (1961: 376) major assumption concerning payoff distributions: &dquo;Any participant will expect others to demand from a coalition a share of the payoff proportional to the amount of resources they contribute to a coalition.&dquo; Operationalizing payoff share as the percentage of ministries received by partners in the coalition and the resources of each member as the percentage of parliamentary seats it furnishes in the coalition, a very high degree of association was found between the variables (r = .926), and the relationship was almost perfectly proportional (Y -0.01 + 1.07X).

The Effect of an Introductory Economics Course on Student Political Attitudes

Abstract: So much has been done in terms of measuring the impact of economics courses on student knowledge and understanding of facts, concepts and principles, and so little research has dealt with the possible effects on student political attitudes, that this study by Scott and Rothman should be of great interest to economics instructors. The authors address themselves to George Stigler's assertion that “the education of an economist makes the person who receives it more conservative.” They report on the use of their own “Social Opinion Questionnaire” and how it was employed to investigate “the different effects, if any, introductory economics and introductory psychology have on opinions related to economic issues.”

Exploratory analysis of a developmental model for task‐oriented small groups

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to describe and perform an exploratory analysis of a conceptual model for task-oriented small group development. The four phases of the model were defined as: latency, adaptation, integration, and goal-attainment. To test assumptions of phasic development, data from minute-byminute observations made on 30 groups of undergraduate women were collapsed into quarters and submitted to a one-way multivariate analysis of variance for the purpose of making a priori nonorthogonal comparisons. Results from the initial a priori comparisons and subsequent data-snooping techniques did not confirm the existence of four sequential phases in group development. Results did disclose a pattern of development that began with an extended adaptation phase covering most of the first half of group interaction. Groups characteristically shifted into a partially defined integration phase where affectivity and neutrality themes appeared to follow each other. Goal-attainment themes were most prominent during the final quarter of interaction.

Multiperipheral description of clustering in charged-particle production in the central plateau

Abstract: A two-channel Chew-Pignotti-type model is constructed which describes the two-charged-particle correlations and the rapidity-gap distribution for the nondiffractive component of the hadronic cross section at high energies.

Temporal discrimination of recycled tonal sequences: Pattern matching and naming of order by untrained listeners

Abstract: Sets of recycled sequences of four successive tones were presented in all six possible orders to untrained listeners. For pitches within the musical range, recognition (as measured by matching of any unknown order with an array of permuted orders of the same tones) could be accomplished as readily for tonal durations and frequency separations outside the limits employed for melodic construction as inside these limits. Identifying or naming of relative pitches of successive tones was considerably more difficult than matching for these tonal sequences, and appeared to follow different rules based upon duration and upon frequency separation. Use of frequencies above the pitch limits for music (4,500 Hz and above) resulted in poor performance both for matching and naming of order. Introduction of short silent intervals between items was without effect for both tasks. Naming of order and pattern recognition appear to reflect different basic processes, in agreement with earlier formulations based on experiments with phonemic sequences of speech and sequences of unrelated sounds (hisses, tones, buzzes). Special characteristics of tonal sequences are discussed, and some speculations concerning music are offered.

The Minnesota Couples Communication Program.

Abstract: are providing feedback to Jim and Carol, one of the participant couples, immediately after a three-minute dialogue between them. In the exercise each couple discusses a real issue for three minutes, and then receives five to ten minutes of feedback from other group members. Feedback focuses on the skills used or missing in their exchange. The exercise occurs toward the end of Session 2, at a point when group members have been introduced to several of the skills and concepts taught in the program. Characteristics of the MCCP illustrated in the excerpt are discussed in the article.

Horizontal distribution of planktonic diatoms in Green Bay, mid-July 19701

Abstract: A synoptic survey of Green Bay was undertaken in mid-July 1970 to dcterminc the horizontal distribution of major species of planktonic diatoms. Principal component analysts of R-correlation and covariance matrices, and four methods of factor analysis described a general bipolar axis which grouped MeZosiru grunulata, Stephanodiscus spp., Cyclotella meneghiniana, and Stephanodiscus niagarae at one pole and Fragilaria crotonensis, Asterionella formosa, Tabellaria flocculosa, and Cyclotella comta at the opposite pole. Cluster analysis of diatoms defined one major group, which predominated in the extreme southern part of the bay, as certain centric species plus the araphid I;rugiZuriu capucina. Two other groups, consisting primarily of other araphids and species of the genus Cyclotellq characterized the rest of the bay. Cluster analysis of 68 stations, based on distribution of diatoms, divided the bay into three major areas: extreme southern Green northern and western Green Bay. Bay, southern and eastern Green Bay, and Green Bay is the largest embayment in Lake Michigan and is located in the northwestern portion of its basin. The bay is 90 km long and has an average width of 37 km. It has a volume of 62 km”, a total area of 4,116 km2, and a mean depth of 16 m. It is deepest near Washington Island and shallowest in its extreme southern end where the Fox River, its major tributary, drains into it. The two major sources of pollution in the watershed are the pulp and paper industry and effluent from waste trcatmcnt plants of several large communities in the Fox River Valley where storm and sanitary sewers are combined (Wisconsin Dep. Nat. Resour. unpublished). The watershed of northern Green Bay drains primarily small communities, farmland, and mixed pine and hardwood forests. We undertook a synoptic survey of Green Bay to determine the horizontal distribution of planktonic diatoms as they might reflect regional or environmental differences and used various multivariate methods in the