Showing papers by "Wichita State University published in 1996"
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined familiar roles that customers play in both manufacturing and service organizations and integrated insights from organization theory, services marketing, and total quality concepts to develop both a conceptual model and 10 propositions based on a more complex view of potential customer contributions to competitive quality.
Abstract: Regardless of the specific tools and methods a firm adopts or what quality experts an organization follows, managing for quality and competitive advantage means a firm must become customer oriented. Unfortunately, many quality-management programs and efforts to enhance competitiveness take a rather limited view of potential customer involvement in the process. This article first examines familiar roles that customers play in both manufacturing and service organizations. Then, insights from organization theory, services marketing. strategic management, and total quality concepts are integrated to develop both a conceptual model and 10 propositions based on a more complex view of potential customer contributions to competitive quality. Both a research agenda and ideas for improved organizational practice are discussed.
784 citations
Journal Article•
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors assessed 1488 patients with rheumatic disease with the Clinical Health Assessment Questionnaire, a health status instrument with scales for fatigue, pain, global severity, sleep disturbance, gastrointestinal problems, anxiety, depression, health status, health satisfaction, and work ability.
Abstract: Objective. To determine the prevalence of fatigue in rheumatic disease ; to characterize the strength of associations between demographic and clinical features and fatigue ; to identify predictors of fatigue, and to determine the consequence of clinically significant fatigue. Methods. 1488 consecutive patients with rheumatic disease were assessed with the Clinical Health Assessment Questionnaire, a health status instrument with scales for fatigue, pain, global severity, sleep disturbance, gastrointestinal problems, anxiety, depression, health status, health satisfaction, and work ability. All patients underwent rheumatic disease examinations and laboratory testing. Results. Fatigue measured by visual analog scale (VAS) was present in 88-98% of patients, but clinically important levels of fatigue (≥ 2.0 on VAS) were present in more than 41% of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) or osteoarthritis (OA) and 76% of those with fibromyalgia (FM). Fatigue was related to almost all demographic and clinical variables, but in multivariate analyses the strongest independent predictors of fatigue were pain, sleep disturbance, depression, tender point count and Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ) disability. About 90% of the R 2 of the model (all patients=0.51, RA=0.49, OA=0.45, FM=0.41) was explained by pain, sleep disturbance, and depression. In RA assessed by erythrocyte sedimentation rate, joint count and grip strength, no association of the inflammatory process with fatigue could be found in the multivariate analyses. In measuring health status, fatigue was strongly associated with work dysfunction and general measures of health (VAS of global severity, health status, and health satisfaction). Conclusion. Fatigue is common across all rheumatic diseases, associates with all measures of distress, and is a predictor of work dysfunction and overall health status. The correlates of fatigue are generally similar across RA, OA and FM. Fatigue assessment adds much to understanding and management of patients and diseases.
591 citations
TL;DR: For instance, this article found that consumers were more satisfied with "gregarious" behaviors when other consumers demonstrated "gregious" behaviors, but generally were displeased with "violent" or "grungy" behaviors.
Abstract: This national study of 554 adults investigated consumers' satisfaction with 32 behaviors in which other consumers may engage when in public business environments. Respondents were most pleased when other consumers demonstrated "gregarious" behaviors, but generally were displeased with "violent" or "grungy" behaviors. Satisfaction ratings also were found to vary somewhat by situational context (i.e., restaurant versus bowling center) and respondent characteristics (i.e., demographics, religion, smoking behavior, and alcohol consumption). Implications for consumers and businesses are discussed. Relationships between human beings are omnipresent, inescapable, and highly interdependent. As Johnson and Johnson observed, From the moment we are born to the moment we die, relationships are the core of our existence. We are conceived within relationships, are born into relationships, live our lives within relationships.... Our relationships with others form the context for all other aspects of our lives. (1989, 107) Likewise, commercial relationships are omnipresent, inescapable, and highly interdependent, with ties between businesses and consumers vital to the interests of both parties. Consumers benefit in terms of enhanced value, higher product/service quality, and greater satisfaction with their purchases (Baldrige 1994; File and Prince 1993), while businesses benefit from increased sales volume, greater operating efficiencies, positive word-of-mouth publicity, and decreased marketing expenses (Reichheld and Sasser 1990; Vavra 1992). Although many of the linkages that solidify consumer-business relationships are already well recognized, one important linkage--the focus of this article--has been insufficiently studied: The relationship between consumers and other consumers in business environments. In other words, relationships between a business and its consumer customers are enhanced when the business' customers interact with one another in a satisfying (or at least tolerable) manner.(1) More specifically, this article attempts to explicate the nature of these consumer-to-consumer relationships by (1) describing their relevance; (2) couching them in the context of a broader model of business relationships; (3) summarizing related literature from sociology, social psychology, consumer behavior, and marketing; (4) presenting a study of consumers' perceptions of other consumers' public behavior; and (5) discussing the consumer and business implications of the study's findings. BACKGROUND In recent years, an increasing number of businesses have recognized the benefits of establishing and nurturing ongoing relationships with their customers. Many have begun to shift their emphasis from discrete transactions toward forging longer term, mutually beneficial exchange relationships. Often referred to as "relationship marketing," the underpinning of this rapidly emerging business philosophy is the belief that strengthening ties with existing customers heightens customer satisfaction and business' ability to serve customers--thereby avoiding the high costs both parties may otherwise experience in the search for new, acceptable exchange partners. Thus, one-shot purchase transactions with limited profitability are transformed into continuous strings of repeat purchases with potential for greater long-term profitability (Arndt 1979; Dwyer, Schurr, and Oh 1987; Jackson 1985; Levitt 1986; Reichheld and Sasser 1990; Sheth and Parvatiyar 1994; Vavra 1992). As illustrated in Figure 1, most of the relevant literature has focused on four broad types of relational linkages. These include ties between consumers (or customers) and (1) the faceless business entity (Berry 1983; Levitt 1986; Rosenberg and Czepiel 1984), (2) the business' personnel/employees (Bitner, Booms, and Tetreault 1990; Coppett and Staples 1990; Crosby, Evans, and Cowles 1990; Czepiel 1990; File and Prince 1993; Martin 1990; Spekman and Johnston 1986), (3) the business' products and services (Baldrige 1994; Bloch and Richins 1983; Martin 1986), and (4) to the extent that the quality of relationships between personnel and consumers (Linkage 2) mirrors internal relationships, the business and its employees or "internal customers" (Berry 1981; Bowers, Martin, and Luker 1990; Gronroos 1981, 1990; Heskett 1986). …
227 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors developed and verified general correlations for friction factor and heat-transfer coefficient for single-phase turbulent flow in internally augmented tubes, which can be successfully applied to a wide range of roughness types and Prandtl number.
189 citations
TL;DR: The results revealed that peak grip strength occurred at a combined posture of shoulder abducted 0 degrees, elbow flexed 135 degrees, and the wrist in the neutral posture, which means that use of handtools at deviated postures of shoulder, elbow, and wrist would decrease the percent of MVC at which a worker operated.
111 citations
110 citations
TL;DR: Individuals with mental retardation are in need of progressive resistance exercise programs to improve hamstring and quadriceps strength and normalize HQ strength and power ratios.
108 citations
TL;DR: The biological activities exhibited by hybrid hormones, eLH alpha found to be greater than those of oLH and pLH provided an interesting exception to the general rule that the beta-subunit determines the potency of the heterodimer.
106 citations
TL;DR: High level geometry lemmas or rules related to geometric invariants, such as area, full-angle, etc., are used to produce short and human-readable proofs in geometry, especially to produce multiple and shortest proofs of a given geometry theorem.
Abstract: We present a set of rules based on full-angles as the basis of automated geometry theorem proving. We extend the idea of eliminating variables and points to the idea of eliminating lines. We also discuss how to combine the forward chaining and backward chaining to achieve higher efficiency. The prover based on the full-angle method has been used to produce short and elegant proofs for more than one hundred difficult geometry theorems. The proofs of many of those theorems produced by our previous area method are relatively long.
87 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors compared the thermal and thermo-oxidative stability of thermoplastic and thermoset epoxy resin model systems based on the diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A (DGEBA) and contrasted as a function of (mostly) aromatic amine curative structure.
86 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a two legged mobile robot that can climb from one surface to another surface by using suction cups was designed, and three artificial constraint equations were derived to create the working Jacobin matrix, and then a progam was written to calculate the reaction and actuator force, based on which, the most dangerous position of the robot was found.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors considered the problem of finding complete radial functions with centers at the points of a closed surface in a Riemannian symmetric space and showed that the answer is positive if and only ifq is not less than 2n/(n + 1).
Abstract: The paper is devoted to the following problem. Consider the set of all radial functions with centers at the points of a closed surface inRn. Are such functions complete in the spaceLq(Rn)? It is shown that the answer is positive if and only ifq is not less than 2n/(n + 1). A similar question is also answered for Riemannian symmetric spaces of rank 1. Relations of this problem with the wave and heat equations are also discussed.
01 Jan 1996-Precision Engineering-journal of The International Societies for Precision Engineering and Nanotechnology
TL;DR: In this paper, a linear search method is developed that reduces the nonlinear problem to a linear programming problem with only two constraints, and the results show that the optimization procedures presented in this paper provide exact values of straightness and flatness errors and are superior to the existing methods in terms of computation time.
Abstract: This paper presents an optimization approach that could be used to calculate exact values of straightness and flatness errors as defined by the ANSI Y14.5M standards on geometric dimensioning and tolerancing. The straightness and flatness error evaluation problems are formulated as nonlinear optimization problems with linear objective function and nonlinear constraints. Because of the special structure of the problem, a linear search method is developed that reduces the nonlinear problem to a linear programming problem with only two constraints. Examples are presented to compare the optimization approach with the least-squares method and some exact methods. The results show that the optimization procedures presented in this paper provide exact values of straightness and flatness errors and are superior to the existing methods in terms of computation time.
TL;DR: In this paper, a large midwestern police agency to find out whether female applicants failed the physical ability test more often than male applicants, whether the tasks were job related or whether there was violation of the fourfifths rule of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and whether the test measured critical tasks.
Abstract: Studies a large midwestern police agency to find out whether female applicants failed the physical ability test more often than male applicants, whether the tasks were job related or whether there was violation of the “four‐fifths” rule of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and whether the test measured critical tasks. Finds that the test has an adverse effect on women and is not job related.
TL;DR: The electrochemistry and spectroelectrochemistry of (TPPBr(x)())FeCl were examined in PhCN containing tetra-nbutylammonium perchlorate (TBAP) as supporting electrolyte as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: The electrochemistry and spectroelectrochemistry of (TPPBr(x)())FeCl (TPPBr(x)() is the dianion of beta-brominated-pyrrole tetraphenylporphyrin and x = 0-8) were examined in PhCN containing tetra-n-butylammonium perchlorate (TBAP) as supporting electrolyte. Each compound undergoes two reversible to quasireversible one-electron oxidations and either three or four reductions within the potential limits of the solvent. The two oxidations occur at the conjugated porphyrin pi ring system, and DeltaE(1/2) between these two electrode reactions increases as the molecule becomes more distorted. The overall reduction of each compound involves the stepwise electrogeneration omicronf an iron(II), iron(I), and iron(I) pi anion radical. An equilibrium between chloride-bound and chloride-free iron(II) forms of the porphyrin is observed with association of the anionic ligand being favored for compounds with x > 5. Singly reduced (TPPBr(x)())FeCl (x = 0 to x = 6) forms both mono- and bis-CO adducts in CH(2)Cl(2). Only the mono-CO adduct is observed for (TPPBr(7))FeCl, and there is no binding at all of CO to (TPPBr(8))FeCl. The nu(CO) of both the mono- and bis-adducts increases with increase in the number of Br groups, but in a nonlinear fashion which is explained in terms of two competing effects. One is the electron-withdrawing affinity of the Br substitutents and the other the nonplanarity of the macrocycle.
01 Apr 1996
TL;DR: The authors define the minimal precedence constraint concept and address two issues: i) generation and representation of minimal precedence constraints for assembly components and ii) determination of the existence of a global execution plan by analyzing the minimum precedence constraint interactions with cell constraints.
Abstract: Assembly planning is an important step in the design-to-fabrication conversion process. In order to maintain the maximum flexibility, it is important to minimally constrain the planning process. It is also important to generate plans that can be successfully completed in the most effective manner using the available assembly cell. In this research the authors define the minimal precedence constraint concept and address two issues: i) generation and representation of minimal precedence constraints for assembly components and ii) determination of the existence of a global execution plan by analyzing the minimal precedence constraint interactions with cell constraints. The minimal precedence constraint concept is also extended to determining constraints for liaisons as presented by DeFazio and Whitney (1987).
TL;DR: Back pain is prevalent among OA clinic patients, more common than in rheumatoid arthritis or population studies, is linked to body mass index, and is associated with clinically significant increases in pain and other measures of clinical distress.
Abstract: Objective. To compare patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA) who have and do not have back pain, and evaluate the prevalence, characteristics, and consequences of back pain among knee OA patients.
Methods. During a 3-year period, consecutive patients attending an outpatient rheumatology clinic were evaluated for the presence of back pain, and 368 were found to have OA of the knee. Clinical status was evaluated by the Clinical Health Assessment Questionnaire, radiographs, and joint examinations.
Results. Back pain was present in 54.6% of patients with OA of the knee. Almost every clinical status measure was worse among those reporting back pain, including Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ) disability, pain, global severity, fatigue, and psychological status. Back pain was more common in women and the obese, but was not associated with age, marital status, formal education, smoking history, or knee radiographic scores. In multivariate analyses the strongest correlates of back pain in knee OA patients were anxiety, night pain, HAQ disability, and global severity.
Conclusion. Back pain is prevalent among OA clinic patients, more common than in rheumatoid arthritis or population studies, is linked to body mass index, and is associated with clinically significant increases in pain and other measures of clinical distress.
TL;DR: This paper found that children were quite selective in their affiliation with peers; they spent substantial social time with a small number of peers and little time with remaining peers, and strong mutual affiliations or friendships were established between children who provided each other with the highest levels of positive social consequences available from peers in the classroom.
TL;DR: It is proposed that people may react more quickly to visual events with music playing at a volume preset to maintain individual comfort levels against other situational background noise.
Abstract: The effects of music amplitude on participants' response time to randomly presented, unexpected, visual events were investigated. Ninety participants completed a motor-reaction task without music and with music played at 60, 70. or 80 dBA. Males preferred more intense music than females did, with males selecting a comfort level of 72 dBA and females, 66 dBA. However, participants' reaction time and the total time to respond to a randomly activated red light were independent of gender. All participants responded more quickly when the music was played at 70 dBA (close to their comfort level) than when it played at lower (60 dBA) or higher (80 dBA) amplitudes. It is proposed that people may react more quickly to visual events (e.g., the sudden appearance of a plane on the screen of an air traffic controller, or the unpredictable activation of a car's rear brake lights when driving) with music playing at a volume preset to maintain individual comfort levels against other situational background noise.
TL;DR: It was found that receipt of sexual counseling significantly differed by marital status of the patient and that specific information on resuming sexual activity was not provided for most patients.
Abstract: Sexual counseling needs of myocardial infarction (I patients are frequently overlooked by nurses. This study sought to determine to what extent sexual counseling of MI patients was addressed in the...
TL;DR: Changes in excited state lifetimes with emission energy follow the energy gap law with an intercept of 49 +/- 1 and a slope of (2.11 +/- 0.09) x 10(-)(3).
Abstract: Acid−base properties for ruthenium(II) bis(2,2‘-bipyridine) 3-carboxyl-2,2‘-bipyridine reveal a ground state pKa of 0.82 ± 0.07 and an excited state pKa* of 2.31 ± 0.05, a 1.5 pH unit increase from the ground state. The excited state pKa* is temperature independent while the ground state pKa0 increases with temperature and has ΔH0 and ΔS0 values of −990 ± 149 cm-1 and −4.57 ± 0.48 cm-1 K-1, respectively. The acidic form of the complex emits at lower energy than the basic form at both 296 and 77 K. The emission energy maxima are solvent dependent and decrease in energy when the solvent changes from 4:1 (v/v) 2-MeTHF−CH2Cl2 to water and when the pH decreases. Changes in excited state lifetimes with emission energy follow the energy gap law with an intercept of 49 ± 1 and a slope of (2.11 ± 0.09) × 10-3. Emission quantum yields for protonated and deprotonated species in 4:1 (v/v) 2-MeTHF−CH2Cl2 are 0.023 ± 0.001 and 0.110 ± 0.002, respectively. The temperature dependence of the emission lifetimes gives energ...
TL;DR: The analyzed and simulated BER results show that the ZifZCD is comparable to the conventional CDM for narrowband digital FM with a modulation index of 0.5, and the ZIFZ CD is significantly better than theCDM for widebanddigital FM withA modulation index larger than 1.5.
Abstract: A digital baseband receiver called zero-intermediate frequency zero-crossing demodulator (ZIFZCD) was developed for digital FM signal detection ZIFZCD is applicable to many worldwide mobile and personal communications systems In addition, ZIFZCD offers lower power consumption and simpler implementation, compared to the conventional analog implementation [eg, a limiter-discriminator integrator and dump (LDI)] and the conventional digital implementation [eg, the cross-differentiate-multiply demodulator (CDM)] This paper introduces the ZIFZCD and reports the bit-error rate (BER) of the ZIFZCD under both static and fading environments The analyzed and simulated BER results show that the ZIFZCD is comparable to the conventional CDM for narrowband digital FM with a modulation index of 05, and the ZIFZCD is significantly better than the CDM for wideband digital FM with a modulation index larger than 15
TL;DR: In this article, a tetraphenylporphyrinato (Tetramerylporphyrinatos)zinc(II) covalently linked with pyridine at the ortho position of one of the four phenyl rings exists as a stable pentacoordinated complex while a temperature dependent binding mechanism is operative for the meta-substituted derivative.
Abstract: (Tetraphenylporphyrinato)zinc(II) covalently linked with pyridine at the ortho position of one of the four phenyl rings exists as a stable pentacoordinated complex while a temperature dependent “tail-on” and “tail-off” binding mechanism is operative for the meta-substituted derivative. The axially bound pyridine does not participate in secondary chemical reactions during the electrochemical oxidation of the ortho derivative while for the meta derivative, additional chemical reactions occur between the zinc(II) porphyrin dication and the appended pyridyl entity leading to the formation of a pyrrole β-substituted isoporphyrin.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors used statistical and ANN models to predict the peak chuck pinch strength as a function of different combinations of five elbow and seven shoulder flexion angles, and several anthropometric and physiological variables.
TL;DR: The Asymptotic stability of a class of linear difference equations has been studied in this paper, where the authors show that linear difference equality is stable in terms of the number of differences.
Abstract: (1996). On the Asymptotic Stability of a Class of Linear Difference Equations. Mathematics Magazine: Vol. 69, No. 1, pp. 34-43.
TL;DR: The results of this study indicated that latchkey youth (LKY) who were home alone two or more days per week were four times more likely to have gotten drunk in the past month than those youth who had parental supervision five or more times a week.
Abstract: This study examined the relationship between middle school/junior high student latchkey status and early experimentation and use of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs. Students were queried about the frequency (number of times per week) and quantity (number of hours per day) of unsupervised after school days in an average week. Questions were also asked regarding their experiences with "gateway" drugs, inhalants, and steroids. Chi square analysis was used to test the strength of association. The results of this study indicated that latchkey youth (LKY) who were home alone two or more days per week were four times more likely to have gotten drunk in the past month than those youth who had parental supervision five or more times a week. Also, significant differences were observed for LKY with respect to cigarette smoking, inhalants, and marijuana use. Other findings and demographic variables were discussed as they pertain to LKY as well as suggested strategies for healthy self-care alternatives.
TL;DR: The results suggest that DEX iontophoresis is more effective than placebo in relieving pain at rest and on movement in the RA knee.
Abstract: Objective. To examine the efficacy of dexamethasone sodium phosphate (DEX) iontophoresis for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) of the knee, and to obtain statistical information for a future randomized controlled trial (RCT).
Methods. Ten subjects with RA, ranging in age from 34–75, were randomly assigned to either the experimental or placebo group. Iontophoresis treatments were given to both groups on days 1, 3, and 5. Five subjects in the experimental group received a mixture of 1 ml of DEX (4 mg/ml) and 1 ml of injectable sterile water; those in the placebo group received 2 ml of saline solution. Pain on movement, at rest, and on pressure, active joint count, and active range of motion, were evaluated on days 1, 5, and 20. The patient's global assessment of treatment efficacy was also assessed on days 5 and 20. Mann-Whitney U tests and Friedman two-way analyses of variance were performed for statistical analyses.
Results. Pain at rest was found to be statistically different between the two groups (P = 0.0317). Statistical significance was also found over time for pain on movement within the experimental group (P = 0.0224).
Conclusion. The results suggest that DEX iontophoresis is more effective than placebo in relieving pain at rest and on movement in the RA knee. Based on the study data, a total of 40 subjects will be required for an RCT of a similar nature.
TL;DR: Les AA. definissent la notion de carnet d'appreciation en soulignant les avantages que ce mode d'evaluation scolaire peut apporter l'enseignant et l'etudiant as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Les AA. definissent la notion de carnet d'appreciation en soulignant les avantages que ce mode d'evaluation scolaire peut apporter a l'enseignant et a l'etudiant. Ils presentent une experience d'une duree de trois annees dans une universite americaine. Le but de l'experience etait d'observer comment enseignants et etudiants collaborent a l'elaboration de ces carnets
TL;DR: In this article, the Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equation is employed to derive the optimality equations wherein this performance index is minimized, and an unstable wing rock model using nonlinear state feedback is asymptotically stable in the large.
Abstract: A procedure is presented for optimizing a state feedback control law for a nonlinear system with respect to a positive performance index. The Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equation is employed to derive the optimality equations wherein this performance index is minimized. The closed-loop Lyapunov function is assumed to have the same matrix form of state variables as the performance index. The constant interpolated terms of these matrix forms are easily determined so as to guarantee their positive definitenesses. The optimal nonlinear system is asymptotically stable in the large, as both the closed-loop Lyapunov function and performance index are positive definite. An unstable wing rock equation of motion is employed to illustrate this method. It is shown that the wing rock model using nonlinear state feedback is asymptotically stable in the large. Both optimal linear and nonlinear state feedback cases are evaluated.