Washington State University

About: Washington State University is a education organization based out in Pullman, Washington, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Gene. The organization has 26947 authors who have published 57736 publications receiving 2341509 citations. The organization is also known as: WSU & Wazzu.

An Identity Theory Approach to Commitment

Abstract: Commitment highlights one of the ways in which individuals infuse roles and social structure with self-motivated behaviors, thereby linking the self to social structure. Past theoretical formulations of commitment, including work by Becker, Stryker, and Kanter, tended to focus on commitment as a tie between an individual and either 1) a line of activity, 2) particular role partners, or 3) an organization. An approach based on identity theory or affect control theory (each of which uses a cybernetic model of identity processes) suggests that commitment connects an individual to an identity. In this view, commitment does not link a person to consistent lines of activity, other role partners, or organizations, but to a stable set of self-meanings. These stable self-meanings, in turn, produce consistent lines of activities. This idea is borne out in an analysis of data from the college student role, in which there exist multiple, independent bases of commitment containing cognitive and socioemotional components. Commitment moderates the relationship between student identity and role performance such that the relationship is stronger for persons with higher commitment.

When Customer Love Turns into Lasting Hate:The Effects of Relationship Strength and Time on Customer Revenge and Avoidance

Abstract: This article explores the effects of time and relationship strength on the evolution of customer revenge and avoidance in online public complaining contexts. First, the authors examine whether online complainers hold a grudge—in terms of revenge and avoidance desires—over time. They find that time affects the two desires differently: Although revenge decreases over time, avoidance increases over time, indicating that customers indeed hold a grudge. Second, the authors examine the moderation effect of a strong relationship on how customers hold this grudge. They find that firms' best customers have the longest unfavorable reactions (i.e., a longitudinal love-becomes-hate effect). Specifically, over time, the revenge of strong-relationship customers decreases more slowly and their avoidance increases more rapidly than that of weak-relationship customers. Third, the authors explore a solution to attenuate this damaging effect—namely, the firm offering an apology and compensation after the online com...

Limitation of plant water use by rhizosphere and xylem conductance: results from a model

Abstract: Hydraulic conductivity (K) in the soil and xylem declines as water potential (psi) declines. This results in a maximum rate of steady-state transpiration (E(crit)) and corresponding minimum leaf psi (psi(crit)) at which K has approached zero somewhere in the soil-leaf continuum. Exceeding these limits causes water transport to cease. A model determined whether the point of hydraulic failure (where K = 0) occurred in the rhizosphere or xylem components of the continuum. Below a threshold of root:leaf area (A(R):A(L)), the loss of rhizosphere K limited E(crit) and psi(crit). Above the threshold, loss of xylem K from cavitation was limiting. The A(R):A(L) threshold ranged from > 40 for coarse soils and/or cavitation-resistant xylem to < 0.20 in fine soils and/or cavitation-susceptible xylem. Comparison of model results with drought experiments in sunflower and water birch indicated that stomatal regulation of E reflected the species' hydraulic potential for extracting soil water, and that the more sensitive stomatal response of water birch to drought was necessary to avoid hydraulic failure. The results suggest that plants should be xylem-limited and near their A(R):A(L) threshold. Corollary predictions are (1) within a soil type the A(R):A(L) should increase with increasing cavitation resistance and drought tolerance, and (2) across soil types from fine to coarse the A(R):A(L) should increase and maximum cavitation resistance should decrease.

Toxicology and biochemistry of butylated hydroxyanisole and butylated hydroxytoluene

Abstract: Butylated hydroxyanisole and butylated hydroxytoluene are used extensively as food antioxidants. It is estimated that man consumes ca. 0.1 mg/kg body wt daily of these antioxidants. At levels 500 times this level (50 mg/kg/day), both butylated hydroxyanisole and butylated hydroxytoluene appear to be free of any obviously injurious effects. However, at larger doses (500 mg/kg/day), both butylated hydroxyanisole and butylated hydroxytoluene result in certain pathological, enzyme, and lipid alterations in both rodents and monkeys, and butylated hydroxytoluene, in some cases, has been reported to have certain teratogenic and carcinogenic effects upon rodents. These alterations appear to differ markedly between rodents and monkeys, apparently as a result of differences which exist in the metabolism and excretion of butylated hydroxyanisole and butylated hydroxytoluene by these two species. However, in both animal species, the alterations appear to be physiological responses which are reversible upon removal of butylated hydroxyanisole and butylated hydroxytoluene from the diet. Long term chronic ingestion of butylated hydroxyanisole and butylated hydroxytoluene may be beneficial in sparing vitamin E and in modifying the acute toxicity of a number of mutagenic and carcinogenic chemicals.

Production of Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids by Polyketide Synthases in Both Prokaryotes and Eukaryotes

Abstract: Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) are essential membrane components in higher eukaryotes and are the precursors of many lipid-derived signaling molecules. Here, pathways for PUFA synthesis are described that do not require desaturation and elongation of saturated fatty acids. These pathways are catalyzed by polyketide synthases (PKSs) that are distinct from previously recognized PKSs in both structure and mechanism. Generation of cis double bonds probably involves position-specific isomerases; such enzymes might be useful in the production of new families of antibiotics. It is likely that PUFA synthesis in cold marine ecosystems is accomplished in part by these PKS enzymes.