An earnings-return model for strategic market planning / BEBR No. 869

Includes bibliographical references (p. 38-39).Few models currently exist which aid managers in their strategic market planning. The models or frameworks which do exist have a variety of shortcomings, a major one being an inadequate linkage to a business organization's dominant goals for existence -- earnings and return on investment. This paper develops a planning model based on a firm's present levels of earnings and return designed to provide a partial foundation on which its managers can base their strategic market planning. Depending upon the firm's placement in the model, different organizational objectives and strategies exist for improving future performance

Exploring the Role of Insulin Receptor Signaling in Hippocampal Learning and Memory, Neuronal Calcium Dysregulation, and Glucose Metabolism

In the late 90’s, emerging evidence revealed that the brain is insulin-sensitive, highlighted by broad expression of brain-specific insulin receptors and reports of circulating brain insulin. Contemporary literature robustly supports the role of insulin signaling in normal brain function and suggests that insulin-related processes diminish with aging, evidenced by decreased signaling markers, reduced insulin receptor density, and lower levels of insulin transport across the blood-brain barrier. In the context of pathological cognitive decline, clinical trials using intranasal insulin delivery have reported positive outcomes on memory and learning in patients with mild cognitive decline or early-stage Alzheimer’s disease. However, while the importance of insulin and its related actions in the brain are robustly supported, the distinct mechanisms and pathways that mediate these effects remain unclear. To address this, I conducted a series of experiments exploring the impact of insulin on memory and learning in two models: primary hippocampal cell cultures and the Fisher 344 animal model of aging. These studies attempted to identify relationships between insulin receptor signaling, neuronal gene expression, glucose metabolism, and calcium homeostasis in the hippocampus using either expression of a constitutively active human insulin receptor or administration of intranasal insulin. The following dissertation summarizes this work and provides valuable insights into the potential pathways mediating these relationships. Of note, intranasal studies reported that insulin is able to significantly alter gene expression patterns in the hippocampus of both young and aged rats following chronic, repeated exposure to the ligand. In cell culture, constitutive insulin signaling correlated with significantly elevated neuronal glucose uptake and utilization, as well as with significant alterations in the overall expression and localization of the neuron-specific glucose transporter 3. Interestingly, continued activity of the insulin receptor did not appear to alter voltage-gated calcium channels in hippocampal neurons despite prior evidence of the ligand’s role in other calcium-related processes. The results reported in this manuscript suggest that in the brain, insulin may be involved in a myriad of complex and dynamic events dependent on numerous variables, such as age, length of the exposure, and/or the insulin formulation used. Nevertheless, this work highlights the validity of using insulin to ameliorate age-related cognitive decline and supports the need for further studies exploring alternative approaches to enhance insulin receptor signaling in the brain

The role of collider bias in understanding statistics on racially biased policing

7 pages, 5 figuresContradictory conclusions have been made about whether unarmed blacks are more likely to be shot by police than unarmed whites using the same data. The problem is that, by relying only on data of 'police encounters', there is the possibility that genuine bias can be hidden. We provide a causal Bayesian network model to explain this bias, which is called collider bias or Berkson's paradox, and show how the different conclusions arise from the same model and data. We also show that causal Bayesian networks provide the ideal formalism for considering alternative hypotheses and explanations of bias

Preschoolers' Search for Explanatory Information Within Adult-Child Conversation.

Explanatory understanding allows us to predict and make sense of events and outcomes in our environment. This research examined young children’s questions and the reactions to the answers they receive within the context of adult-child conversation, to explore the active role that children play in successfully obtaining explanatory information. Study 1 examined adult-child conversations following preschoolers’ causal questions recorded in naturalistic situations (using the CHILDES database). If children actively seek explanatory knowledge, they should react differently depending on whether or not they have received a causal explanation from their adult conversational partner. This pattern was present in the results: when preschool-aged children received an explanation to their questions, they seemed satisfied (evidenced by their agreement), or were motivated to pursue new information on the same topic (by asking a follow-up question). In contrast, when children did not receive an explanation, they persisted in re-asking for this information or in suggesting their own explanation. Study 2 replicated these patterns of child responses within an experimental format. A set of surprising, question-provoking pictures, objects, storybooks, and videos were used to prompt participants’ inquiries, and an adult researcher responded with scripted explanations and non-explanations to see if children would react differently to these two types of answers. This study confirmed results from Study 1; children were more likely to agree and ask follow-up questions following explanations and, conversely, were more likely to re-ask their original question and provide their own explanation following non-explanations. Studies 3 and 4 explored how the amount of detail present in an explanation affects adults’ and children’s satisfaction with the explanations they receive. I compared adults’ and children’s reactions to and recall of 3 levels of explanation with low, moderate, and high levels of detail. Results revealed that both children and adults found explanations with a moderate level of detail to be the most satisfying and memorable. This research demonstrates that examining conversational exchanges and specifically looking at children’s reactions to responses to their questions provides fruitful insight into not only the intention behind their initial inquiry, but also how children evaluate the content of the answer they receive.Ph.D.PsychologyUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/57690/2/frazierb_1.pd