Cognitive coherence in the evluation of a novel single item

Article published in Judgement and Decision-Makin

The World from a Different Angle

Mackenzie Fraser ’17 expanded her view of the world when she served as a translator for a medical mission team and backpacked the Camino Inka in Peru over the summer

Hola from Costa Rica!

Postcard from Mackenzie Fraser, during the Linfield College Semester Abroad Program at Centro Cultural e Histórico José Figueres Ferrer in San Ramón, Costa Ric

Partnering Attractiveness In Buyer-seller Relationships

Partnering has been described as one of the most profound changes to hit the American industrial marketplace in five decades. From a marketing perspective, it is critical to determine what makes a supplier attractive to a customer for a partnering relationship, before the customer decides to establish such relationships with its vendors. Suppliers who are winners in this new environment will have a strategic advantage over their competition; those who lose could seriously restrict their possibility of future growth.;Drawing on organizational buying behavior theory and channel relationship theory, a comprehensive causal model of antecedent constructs to partnering attractiveness was developed. Data were gathered from a cross-section of purchasing people across southwestern Ontario involved in the purchasing of stationery and office supplies, and welding supplies and equipment. Model parameters were estimated by Partial Least Squares (PLS), a regression-based causal modelling methodology developed by Herman Wold.;The model was able to explain 43% of the variance in partnering attractiveness with the data from stationery supplies purchasers, and 36% with the data from welding supplies purchasers. With both sets of data, a reduced model restricted to those constructs from channel relationship theory was able to predict partnering attractiveness as well as the full model. With both sets of data, a reduced model restricted to those constructs from organizational buying behavior theory accounted for a significantly lower percentage of variance explained in partnering attractiveness.;Additional constructs investigated in this research were satisfaction and trust, two causal antecedents to partnering attractiveness that are predicted within the same model. The moderating effects of relationship importance have also been investigated where the buyer-seller relationships have been designated as either primary relationships (between a buyer and the seller that supplies more of a particular product group to that buyer than any other seller) or secondary relationships (between a buyer and all other sellers for a particular product group).;The results of this research have implications for marketing theory, marketing management, and for research methodology

ACTH and polymorphisms at steroidogenic loci as determinants of aldosterone secretion and blood pressure

The majority of genes contributing to the heritable component of blood pressure remain unidentified, but there is substantial evidence to suggest that common polymorphisms at loci involved in the biosynthesis of the corticosteroids aldosterone and cortisol are important. This view is supported by data from genome-wide association studies that consistently link the CYP17A1 locus to blood pressure. In this review article, we describe common polymorphisms at three steroidogenic loci (CYP11B2, CYP11B1 and CYP17A1) that alter gene transcription efficiency and levels of key steroids, including aldosterone. However, the mechanism by which this occurs remains unclear. While the renin angiotensin system is rightly regarded as the major driver of aldosterone secretion, there is increasing evidence that the contribution of corticotropin (ACTH) is also significant. In light of this, we propose that the differential response of variant CYP11B2, CYP11B1 and CYP17A1 genes to ACTH is an important determinant of blood pressure, tending to predispose individuals with an unfavourable genotype to hypertension

Educational experiences of aging nontraditional undergraduate students / by John MacKenzie.

This qualitative study describes the educational experiences of older full-time nontraditional undergraduate students. The participants in this study were over 40 years old and came from varying educational backgrounds. One left high school early while the others had graduated. All had entered the workforce directly from high school, but only one subsequently had attained higher education. None had previously attended university; however, all had degenerative injuries that precipitated a return to school. Questions that explored early school experiences, subsequent learning activities, changing social support mechanisms, and transitional events that affected participants' educational experiences provided a research framework. This study utilized life course and persistence theories to analyze data. Four main themes emerged: 1) lifelong learning; 2) educational experiences at Lakehead University; 3) adult student identities; and, 4) the impacts of age on nontraditional students. The research revealed that major life course events, a love of learning and a history of lifelong learning precipitated individual decisions to become full-time undergraduates. Early school experiences profoundly influenced older students’ choices of formal or informal educational pathways leading to full-time university study. Nontraditional students’ identities reflected complex social and family responsibilities and a focus on higher education providing enhanced economic opportunity. Age had no effect on older students’ cognitive or intellectual abilities, but age did have social consequence within the university community. All older students felt respected but also experienced ageist behaviours, including, age-based preferential treatment and infantilization

Development of a Radioligand Binding Assay for Detection of Gastrin/CCKB Receptors in the Human Gastrointestinal Tract

The initial strategy of the thesis (Chapter 3) examined the presence and characterisation of gastrin/CCKB receptors in the rat pancreatic cell line, AR42J. This cell line was chosen due to its continuous expression of high affinity gastrin/CCKB receptors even after repeated cell culture. Following optimisation of the radioligand binding assay, gastrin/CCKB receptors were characterised using a panel of receptor agonists and antagonists. The AR42J whole cell assay demonstrated that AR42J cells express high affinity gastrin/CCKB receptors with a dissociation constant of 0.3nM and maximal binding capacity of 24fmols/106 cells. These results were similar to those found in the literature by several different groups. Inhibitory dissociation constants (Ki) for the receptor agonists and antagonists used in displacement experiments were also found to correlate closely to literature values thereby confirming the validity of the gastrin/CCKB receptor properties of AR42J cells as measured using the assay developed. The second series of experiments (Chapter 4) examined the preparation of crude membranes from AR42J cells and also the effect of membrane storage. Crude membrane fractions were found to retain the receptor characteristics and properties of receptors on AR42J whole cells. Storage of crude membranes for a limited period at -7

The impact of human-technology cooperation and distributed cognition in forensic science: biasing effects of AFIS contextual information on human experts*

Experts play a critical role in forensic decision making, even when cognition is offloaded and distributed between human and machine. In this paper, we investigated the impact of using Automated Fingerprint Identification Systems (AFIS) on human decision makers. We provided 3680 AFIS lists (a total of 55,200 comparisons) to 23 latent fingerprint examiners as part of their normal casework. We manipulated the position of the matching print in the AFIS list. The data showed that latent fingerprint examiners were affected by the position of the matching print in terms of false exclusions and false inconclusives. Furthermore, the data showed that false identification errors were more likely at the top of the list and that such errors occurred even when the correct match was present further down the list. These effects need to be studied and considered carefully, so as to optimize human decision making when using technologies such as AFIS

Epidemiology of Skin Infections in Men's Wrestling: Analysis of 2009–2010 Through 2013–2014 National Collegiate Athletic Association Surveillance Data

CONTEXT: Our knowledge of the current epidemiology of skin infections among wrestlers is limited. OBJECTIVE: To analyze and report the epidemiology of skin infections among National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) men's wrestling student-athletes during the 2009-2010 through 2013-2014 academic years. DESIGN: Descriptive epidemiology study. SETTING: Aggregate skin infection and exposure data collected by the NCAA Injury Surveillance Program. PATIENTS OR OTHER PARTICIPANTS: Collegiate men's wrestling student-athletes. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): All viral, bacterial, or fungal skin infections reported by athletic trainers at 17 NCAA programs were analyzed, providing 35 team-seasons of data. Skin infection rates per 10 000 athlete-exposures (AEs), rate ratios, skin infection proportions, and skin infection proportion ratios were calculated. RESULTS: The athletic trainers reported 112 skin infections contracted by 87 student-athletes across 78 720 AEs. The overall skin infection rate was 14.23/10 000 AEs (95% confidence interval [CI] = 11.59, 16.86). Of the skin infections identified, 22.3% (n = 25) were recurrent skin infections. Most skin infections (65.2%) were attributable to 5 team-seasons (range, 11-19 infections). Most skin infections occurred during the regular season (n = 76, 67.9%), were identified during practice (n = 100, 89.3%), and resulted in ≥24 hours' time loss (n = 83, 74.1%). The rate for viral skin infections was 1.72 times the rate for bacterial skin infections (95% CI = 1.09, 2.72) and 2.08 times the rate for fungal skin infections (95% CI = 1.28, 3.39). Fungal skin infections more often resulted in time loss <24 hours compared with all other skin infections (75.0% versus 12.5%; infection proportion ratio = 6.00; 95% CI = 3.30, 10.92). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings highlight the contagiousness of skin infections and suggest that skin infection rates may be attributable to high incidences among particular teams