Showing papers by "Washington State University published in 1996"

An experimental comparison of range image segmentation algorithms

Abstract: A methodology for evaluating range image segmentation algorithms is proposed. This methodology involves (1) a common set of 40 laser range finder images and 40 structured light scanner images that have manually specified ground truth and (2) a set of defined performance metrics for instances of correctly segmented, missed, and noise regions, over- and under-segmentation, and accuracy of the recovered geometry. A tool is used to objectively compare a machine generated segmentation against the specified ground truth. Four research groups have contributed to evaluate their own algorithm for segmenting a range image into planar patches.

Foci And Bases Of Employee Commitment: Implications For Job Performance

Abstract: Previous research has found that employee commitment and job performance are largely unrelated. However, prior work has not distinguished among individual foci (targets) and bases (motives) of commitment. We found, as expected, that commitment to supervisors was positively related to performance and was more strongly associated with performance than was commitment to organizations. Further, internalization of supervisors' and organizations' values was associated with performance but identification with these foci was not.

Improving the Store Environment: Do Olfactory Cues Affect Evaluations and Behaviors?:

Abstract: The popular press has recently reported that managers of retail and service outlets are diffusing scents into their stores to create more positive environments and develop a competitive advantage. ...

High-Mobility-Group Chromosomal Proteins: Architectural Components That Facilitate Chromatin Function

Abstract: Publisher Summary This chapter summarizes recent information on the function of high-mobility-group (HMG) proteins. Advances in this field were made primarily by elucidating the structure of these proteins and by understanding their mode of interactions with DNA and chromatin. Renewed interest in these proteins is because of the finding that the DNA-binding domains of many regulatory proteins share common elements with the HMG-1/-2 chromosomal protein family. The HMG proteins are among the largest and best characterized group of nonhistone chromosomal proteins. Members of this protein group are found in all the cells of higher eukaryotes. Most of the data suggest that HMG proteins are associated with selected regions in chromatin and this association affects the architecture and increases the structural complexity of the chromatin fiber. The human HMG-I(Y) gene is located on the short arm of chromosome 6 in a region involved in rearrangements, translocations, and other abnormalities correlated with a number of human cancers.

Repeated cocaine augments excitatory amino acid transmission in the nucleus accumbens only in rats having developed behavioral sensitization

Abstract: Rats were pretreated with daily cocaine or saline injections for 1 week. The rats treated with daily cocaine were separated into two groups: a sensitized group of animals demonstrating > 20% increase in motor activity on the last injection compared with the first injection of daily cocaine, and a nonsensitized group showing

WELCOME TO THE MEN'S CLUB Homosociality and the Maintenance of Hegemonic Masculinity

Abstract: This study focuses on multiple masculinities conceptualized in terms of sociality, a concept used to refer to nonsexual interpersonal attractions. Through male homosocial heterosexual interactions, hegemonic masculinity is maintained as the norm to which men are held accountable despite individual conceptualizations of masculinity that depart from that norm. When it is understood among heterosexual men in homosocial circles that masculinity means being emotionally detached and competitive and that masculinity involves viewing women as sexual objects, their daily interactions help perpetuate a system that subordinates femininity and nonhegemonic masculinities. Nonhegemonic masculinities fail to influence structural gender arrangements significantly because their expression is either relegated to heterosocial settings or suppressed entirely.

The Critical Requirement for Linolenic Acid Is Pollen Development, Not Photosynthesis, in an Arabidopsis Mutant.

Abstract: The very high proportions of trienoic fatty acids found in chloroplast membranes of all higher plants suggest that these lipid structures might be essential for photosynthesis. We report here on the production of Arabidopsis triple mutants that contain negligible levels of trienoic fatty acids. Photosynthesis at 22[deg]C was barely affected, and vegetative growth of the mutants was identical with that of the wild type, demonstrating that any requirement for trienoic acyl groups in membrane structure and function is relatively subtle. Although vegetative growth and development were unaffected, the triple mutants are male sterlle and produce no seed under normal conditions. Comparisons of pollen development in wild-type and triple mutant flowers established that pollen grains in the mutant developed to the tricellular stage. Exogenous applications of [alpha]-llnolenate or jasmonate restored fertility. Taken together, the results demonstrate that the critical role of trienoic acids in the life cycle of plants is as the precursor of oxylipin, a signaling compound that regulates final maturation processes and the release of pollen.

Control of linear systems with saturating actuators

Abstract: This paper deals with the design of linear systems with saturating actuators where the actuator limitations have to be incorporated a priori into control design. The authors take a semiglobal approach to solve some of the central control problems for such systems. These problems include stabilization, input-additive disturbance rejection, and robust stabilization in the presence of matched nonlinear uncertainties. The authors develop further the semiglobal design technology which was initiated in their earlier work (Lin and Saberi, 1995) and utilize it to deal with these control problems.

An octadecanoid pathway mutant (JL5) of tomato is compromised in signaling for defense against insect attack.

Abstract: The activation of defense genes in tomato plants has been shown to be mediated by an octadecanoic acid-based signaling pathway in response to herbivore attack or other mechanical wounding. We report here that a tomato mutant (JL5) deficient in the activation of would-inducible defense genes is also compromised in resistance toward the lepidopteran predator Manduca sexta (tobacco hornworm). Thus we propose the name defenseless1 (def1) for the mutation in the JL5 line that mediates this altered defense response. In experiments designed to define the normal function of DEF1, we found that def1 plants are defective in defense gene signaling initiated by prosystemin overexpression in transgenic plants as well as by oligosaccharide (chitosan and polygalacturonide) and polypeptide (systemin) elicitors. Supplementation of plants through their cut stems with intermediates of the octadecanoid pathway indicates that def1 plants are affected in octadecanoid metabolism between the synthesis of hydroperoxylinolenic acid and 12-oxo-phytodienoic acid. Consistent with this defect, def1 plants are also compromised in their ability to accumulate jasmonic acid, the end product of the pathway, in response to wounding and the aforementioned elicitors. Taken together, these results show that octadecanoid metabolism plays an essential role in the transduction of upstream would signals to the activation of antiherbivore plant defenses.

Setting the Stage for Trust and Strategic Integration in Japanese-U.S. Cooperative Alliances

Abstract: This study investigated the formation and outcomes of trust between partners in a specific form of strategic alliance not often studied, the non-equity-based international cooperative alliance (ICA). Because a component of the investigation involved the reciprocal effects of trust in the ICA relationship, dyadic data were gathered from Japanese and U.S. partners in 101 ICAs based in Japan. Results showed that partner cultural sensitivity is an important contributor to trust building for both sides of the dyad. Complementarity with partner contributed to trust for the U.S. but not for the Japanese. Similarity between ICA partners led to trust for the Japanese but not the U.S. partner. The results also showed strong reciprocal effects of trust in the relationship, and that trust of the ICA partner leads the individual firm to integrate the ICA into its own strategic framework.

Social capital and dropping out of school early.

Abstract: Les AA. montrent que la famille constitue un facteur fondamental en ce qui concerne la reussite sociale des enfants aux Etats-Unis. Ils affirment que cette influence peut s'exercer au niveau du capital financier, du capital humain et enfin du capital social. Ils presentent un certain nombre de donnees collectees, dans ce pays, en 1988 ainsi qu'entre 1990 et 1992. Ils examinent l'impact de certaines variables comme le niveau d'instruction et le revenu des parents, le type d'etablissement scolaire frequente, le nombre de changements d'ecoles, la structure familiale, le lieu de residence, l'appartenance ethnique, le sexe et le niveau scolaire des enfants

Beyond Process: TQM Content and Firm Performance

Abstract: Authors of the literature on total quality management (TQM) have been much more concerned with process than content. This article considers TQM in relation to firm orientation and identifies market advantage, product design efficiency, process efficiency, and product reliability as the key feature of its content. Performance expectations for TQM. In the form of Increased revenues, reduced costs, and their time lags, are addressed in the context of environmental uncertainty.

Sphere tracing: a geometric method for the antialiased ray tracing of implicit surfaces

Abstract: Sphere tracing is a new technique for rendering implicit surfaces that uses geometric distance. Sphere tracing marches along the ray toward its first intersection in steps guaranteed not to penetrate the implicit surface. It is particularly adept at rendering pathological surfaces. Creased and rough implicit surfaces are defined by functions with discontinuous or undefined derivatives. Sphere tracing requires only a bound on the magnitude of the derivative, robustly avoiding problems where the derivative jumps or vanishes. It is an efficient direct visualization system for the design and investigation of new implicit models. Sphere tracing efficiently approximates cone tracing, supporting symbolic-prefiltered antialiasing. Signed distance functions for a variety of primitives and operations are derived.

Polypeptide signaling for plant defensive genes exhibits analogies to defense signaling in animals.

Abstract: The activation of plant defensive genes in leaves of tomato plants in response to herbivore damage or mechanical wounding is mediated by a mobile 18-amino acid polypeptide signal called systemin. Systemin is derived from a larger, 200-amino acid precursor called prosystemin, similar to polypeptide hormones and soluble growth factors in animals. Systemin activates a lipid-based signaling cascade, also analogous to signaling systems found in animals. In plants, linolenic acid is released from membranes and is converted to the oxylipins phytodienoic acid and jasmonic acid through the octadecanoid pathway. Plant oxylipins are structural analogs of animal prostaglandins which are derived from arachidonic acid in response to various signals, including polypeptide factors. Constitutive overexpression of the prosystemin gene in transgenic tomato plants resulted in the overproduction of prosystemin and the abnormal release of systemin, conferring a constitutive overproduction of several systemic wound-response proteins (SWRPs). The data indicate that systemin is a master signal for defense against attacking herbivores. The same defensive proteins induced by wounding are synthesized in response to oligosaccharide elicitors that are generated in leaf cells in response to pathogen attacks. Inhibitors of the octadecanoid pathway, and a mutation that interrupts this pathway, block the induction of SWRPs by wounding, systemin, and oligosaccharide elicitors, indicating that the octadecanoid pathway is essential for the activation of defense genes by all of these signals. The tomato mutant line that is functionally deficient in the octadecanoid pathway is highly susceptible to attacks by Manduca sexta larvae. The similarities between the defense signaling pathway in tomato leaves and those of the defense signaling pathways of macrophages and mast cells of animals suggests that both the plant and animal pathways may have evolved from a common ancestral origin.

Interacting with hypertext: a meta-analysis of experimental studies

Abstract: The meta-analysis compared and synthesized the results of 23 experimental studies on hypertext. The analysis was based on 56 pairs of effect sizes and significance levels of the impact of users, tasks, and tools on interactions with hypertext. This analysis focused on three factors that prevailingly influence the use of hypertext: the cognitive styles and spatial ability of users; the complexity of tasks; and the structure of information organization and the visualization of the structure. The meta-analysis found that this group of experimental studies reported significantly discrepant findings, indicating that substantial differences exist among individual experiments. Individual differences in cognition did not yield enough evidence to conclude that the effect sizes are significantly apart from zero. The meta-analysis showed that the overall performance of hypertext users tended to be more effective than that of nonhypertext users, but the differences in efficiency measures were consistently in favor of nonhypertext users. Users benefited more from hypertext tools for open tasks. Overall, the complexity of tasks has the largest combined effect sizes. Graphical maps that visualize the organization of hypertext have significant impact on the usefulness of a hypertext system. This meta-analysis raised two issues concerned with the present hypertext literature: (a) the absence of a taxonomy of tasks for analyzing and comparing hypertext usability across studies, and (b) the weaknesses of the connections between abstract hypertext reference models and specific hypertext systems. These weaknesses may considerably undermine the significance of individual findings on hypertext usability. Results of the meta-analysis suggest that the discrepancies among empirical findings are related to these weaknesses. Future work on hypertext usability should emphasize task taxonomies along with longitudinal and ethnographic studies for a deep understanding of the interactions between users and hypertext. Recommended research issues for the future are highlighted in Section 5.

Input Demand under Yield and Revenue Insurance

Abstract: Previous studies disagree on the effects of insurance on fertilizer application rates. The effect of increased fertilizer on the probability of low yields primarily determines whether fertilizer and insurance are substitutes or complements. We estimate conditional distributions of corn yields to determine if the technical relationship between yields and fertilizer supports the hypothesis that insurance increases optimal application rates. Our results indicate no support for this hypothesis. At all nitrogen fertilizer rates and reasonable levels of risk aversion, nitrogen fertilizer and insurance are substitutes, suggesting that those who purchase insurance are likely to decrease nitrogen fertilizer applications.

Detection of subgroup III geminivirus isolates in leaf extracts by degenerate primers and polymerase chain reaction.

Abstract: The DNA of several monopartite and bipartite whitefly-transmitted (WFT) geminiviruses was amplified from a viral template present in infected leaves after either direct addition of clarified plant extracts to an otherwise complete polymerase chain reaction (PCR) mix or after immobilization of template to microfuge tubes. A degenerate primer pair was designed to specifically target the middle or 'core' region of the capsid protein gene of subgroup III geminivirus isolates and amplify a viral DNA fragment of approximately 550 bp. Using this method, a single PCR product of the expected size (550 bp), as estimated by agarose gel electrophoresis, was amplifiable from plants infected with a representative set of subgroup III geminivirus isolates with a broad biogeographic base. That the 550-bp PCR product had a geminiviral gene origin was demonstrated by direct sequencing of the 550-bp fragments (yielding approximately 470 to 490 bases of informative sequence) and was validated through comparison (alignment) of the sequences with the published DNA sequences of several well-characterized WFT geminiviruses. Analogous viral fragments were not detectable by PCR with the subgroup III core coat protein primers and extracts of plants infected with either subgroup I or II geminivirus isolates. The demonstrated exclusive specificity of the assay for subgroup III geminiviruses offers a highly simplified PCR-based assay that permits the detection of a geographically diverse collection of WFT geminiviruses infecting cultivated crops, ornamentals, and weed hosts with minimal sample preparation. This approach is highly useful for the amplification of subgroup III geminiviral DNA templates from total nucleic acid extracts from infected plants and partially purified virion preparations.

Scanning Tunneling Microscopy of Metal Phthalocyanines: d7 and d9 Cases

Abstract: Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) images of cobalt(II) phthalocyanine (CoPc), copper(II) phthalocyanine (CuPc), and mixtures of the two adsorbed on the Au(111) face are reported. Based upon the s...

Interior Plants May Improve Worker Productivity and Reduce Stress in a Windowless Environment

Abstract: This study documents some of the benefits of adding plants to a windowless work place—a college computer lab. Participants' blood pressure and emotions were monitored while completing a simple, timed computer task in the presence or absence of plants. When plants were added to this interior space, the participants were more productive (12% quicker reaction time on the computer task) and less stressed (systolic blood pressure readings lowered by one to four units). Immediately after completing the task, participants in the room with plants present reported feeling more attentive (an increase of 0.5 on a self-reported scale from one to five) than people in the room with no plants.

Mechanism of carbon dioxide-catalyzed oxidation of tyrosine by peroxynitrite

Abstract: Peroxynitrite ion (ONO2-) reacted rapidly with CO2 to form a short-lived intermediate provisionally identified as the ONO2CO2- adduct. This adduct was more reactive in tyrosine oxidation than ONO2- itself and produced 3-nitrotyrosine and 3,3'-dityrosine as the major oxidation products. With tyrosine in excess, the rate of 3-nitrotyrosine formation was independent of the tyrosine concentration and was determined by the rate of formation of the ONO2CO2- adduct. The overall yield of oxidation products was also independent of the concentration of tyrosine and medium acidity; approximately 19% of the added ONO2- was converted to products under all reaction conditions. However, the 3-nitrotyrosine/3,3'-dityrosine product ratio depended upon the pH, tyrosine concentration, and absolute reaction rate. These data are in quantitative agreement with a reaction mechanism in which the one-electron oxidation of tyrosine by ONO2CO2- generates tyrosyl and NO2 radicals as intermediary species, but are inconsistent with mechanisms that invoke direct electrophilic attack on the tyrosine aromatic ring by the adduct. Based upon its reactivity characteristics, ONO2CO2- has a lifetime shorter than 3 ms and a redox potential in excess of 1 V, and oxidizes tyrosine with a bimolecular rate constant greater than 2 x 10(5) M-1 s-1. In comparison, in CO2-free solutions, oxidation of tyrosine by peroxynitrite was much slower and gave significantly lower yields (approximately 8%) of the same products. When tyrosine was the limiting reactant, 3,5-dinitrotyrosine was found among the reaction products of the CO2-catalyzed reaction, but this compound was not detected in the uncatalyzed reaction.

The Effect of New Product Features on Brand Choice

Abstract: Companies often introduce new product features to differentiate their brands and gain a competitive advantage. The authors investigate factors that moderate the impact of a new feature on brand cho...

What causes population cycles of forest Lepidoptera

Abstract: Hypotheses for the causes of regular cycles in populations of forest Lepidoptera have invoked pathogen-insect or foliage-insect interactions. However, the available data suggest that forest caterpillar cycles are more likely to be the result of interactions with insect parasitoids, an old argument that seems to have been neglected in recent years.

Genetic Map of Diploid Wheat, Triticum monococcum L., and Its Comparison With Maps of Hordeum vulgare L.

Abstract: A genetic map of diploid wheat, Triticum monococcum L., involving 335 markers, including RFLP DNA markers, isozymes, seed storage proteins, rRNA, and morphological loci, is reported. T. monococcum and barley linkage groups are remarkably conserved. They differ by a reciprocal translocation involving the long arms of chromosomes 4 and 5, and paracentric inversions in the long arm of chromosomes 1 and 4; the latter is in a segment of chromosome arm 4L translocated to 5L in T. monococcum. The order of the markers in the inverted segments in the T. monococcum genome is the same as in the B and D genomes of T. aestivum L. The T. monococcum map differs from the barley maps in the distribution of recombination within chromosomes. The major 5S rRNA loci were mapped on the short arms of T. monococcum chromosomes 1 and 5 and the long arms of barley chromosomes 2 and 3. Since these chromosome arms are colinear, the major 5S rRNA loci must be subjected to positional changes in the evolving Triticeae genome that do not perturb chromosome colinearity. The positional changes of the major 5S rRNA loci in Triticeae genomes are analogous to those of the 18S-5.8S-26S rRNA loci.