This research investigates the role of emotion in the persuasion process by establishing a novel relationship between emotion and construal level. Built on cognitive appraisal theories, this research proposes that the certainty appraisal components of emotions exert a direct influence on an individual’s representation of information at a high versus low construal level. The findings indicate that individuals primed to feel emotion low on certainty appraisals construe behaviors or events at a high level and estimate uncertain events as more likely to happen, while those primed to feel emotion high on certainty appraisals characterize behavior or events at a low level and evaluate uncertain events as less likely to occur (Study 1 & Study 2). Further, such a fit (vs. nonfit) between an individual’s emotional state and the construal level at which product benefits in an advertising message are represented lead to a more favorable evaluation of the message and product (Study 3). The findings from this dissertation study also illustrate that uncertainty-related emotion eliciting a high-level construal mindset leads to a cognitive shift toward relying more on nonalignable attribute differences and a greater preference for the nonalignable-better brand although individuals usually rely more on alignable attribute differences and favor the alignable-better brand (Study 4). Accordingly, these outcomes occur because the certainty appraisal components of emotions influence mental construal levels. / text

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The human protein kinase superfamily consists of over 500 members that individually control specific aspects of cell behavior and collectively control the complete range of cellular processes. That such a large group of proteins is able to uniquely diversify and establish individual identities while retaining common enzymatic function and significant sequence/structural conservation is remarkable. The means by which this is achieved is poorly understood, and we have begun to examine the issue by performing a comparative analysis of the catalytic domain of protein kinases. A novel approach for protein structural alignment has revealed a high degree of similarity found across the kinase superfamily, with variability confined largely to a single region thought to be involved in substrate binding. The similarity detected is not limited to amino acids, but includes a group of conserved water molecules that play important structural roles in stabilizing critical residues and the fold of the kinase domain. The development of a novel technique for identifying kinase substrates on a large scale directly from cell lysate has revealed that substrate specificity is not what discriminates the closely related p38α and β mitogen-activated protein kinases. Instead cellular localization appears to be their distinguishing characteristic, at least during myoblast differentiation. Together these results highlight the extent of conservation, as well as the minimal variability, that is found in the catalytic domain of all protein kinase superfamily members, and that while distantly related kinases may be distinguished by substrate specificity, closely related kinases are likely to be distinguished by other factors. Although these results focus on representative members of the kinase superfamily, they give insight as to how all protein kinases likely diversified and established unique non-redundant identities. In addition, the novel techniques developed and presented here for structural alignment and substrate discovery offer new tools for studying molecular biology and cell signaling.

The human protein kinase superfamily consists of over 500 members that individually control specific aspects of cell behavior and collectively control the complete range of cellular processes. That such a large group of proteins is able to uniquely diversify and establish individual identities while retaining common enzymatic function and significant sequence/structural conservation is remarkable. The means by which this is achieved is poorly understood, and we have begun to examine the issue by performing a comparative analysis of the catalytic domain of protein kinases. A novel approach for protein structural alignment has revealed a high degree of similarity found across the kinase superfamily, with variability confined largely to a single region thought to be involved in substrate binding. The similarity detected is not limited to amino acids, but includes a group of conserved water molecules that play important structural roles in stabilizing critical residues and the fold of the kinase domain. The development of a novel technique for identifying kinase substrates on a large scale directly from cell lysate has revealed that substrate specificity is not what discriminates the closely related p38α and β mitogen-activated protein kinases. Instead cellular localization appears to be their distinguishing characteristic, at least during myoblast differentiation. Together these results highlight the extent of conservation, as well as the minimal variability, that is found in the catalytic domain of all protein kinase superfamily members, and that while distantly related kinases may be distinguished by substrate specificity, closely related kinases are likely to be distinguished by other factors. Although these results focus on representative members of the kinase superfamily, they give insight as to how all protein kinases likely diversified and established unique non-redundant identities. In addition, the novel techniques developed and presented here for structural alignment and substrate discovery offer new tools for studying molecular biology and cell signaling.

A topic of research that is frequently studied in Structural Biology is the problem of determining the degree of similarity between two protein structures. The most common solution is to perform a three dimensional structural alignment on the two structures. Rigid structural alignment algorithms have been developed in the past to accomplish this but treat the protein molecules as immutable structures. Since protein structures can bend and flex, rigid algorithms do not yield accurate results and as a result, flexible structural alignment algorithms have been developed. The problem with these algorithms is that the protein structures are represented using thousands of atomic coordinate variables. This results in a great computational burden due to the large number of degrees of freedom required to account for the flexibility. Past research in dimensionality reduction techniques has shown that a linear dimensionality reduction technique called Principal Component Analysis (PCA) is well suited for high dimensionality reduction. This thesis introduces a new flexible structural alignment algorithm called FlexSADRA, which uses PCA to perform flexible structural alignments. Test results show that FlexSADRA determines better alignments than rigid structural alignment algorithms. Unlike existing rigid and flexible algorithms, FlexSADRA addresses the problem in a significantly lower dimensionality problem space and assesses not only the structural fit but the structural feasibility of the final alignment.

A topic of research that is frequently studied in Structural Biology is the problem of determining the degree of similarity between two protein structures. The most common solution is to perform a three dimensional structural alignment on the two structures. Rigid structural alignment algorithms have been developed in the past to accomplish this but treat the protein molecules as immutable structures. Since protein structures can bend and flex, rigid algorithms do not yield accurate results and as a result, flexible structural alignment algorithms have been developed. The problem with these algorithms is that the protein structures are represented using thousands of atomic coordinate variables. This results in a great computational burden due to the large number of degrees of freedom required to account for the flexibility. Past research in dimensionality reduction techniques has shown that a linear dimensionality reduction technique called Principal Component Analysis (PCA) is well suited for high dimensionality reduction. This thesis introduces a new flexible structural alignment algorithm called FlexSADRA, which uses PCA to perform flexible structural alignments. Test results show that FlexSADRA determines better alignments than rigid structural alignment algorithms. Unlike existing rigid and flexible algorithms, FlexSADRA addresses the problem in a significantly lower dimensionality problem space and assesses not only the structural fit but the structural feasibility of the final alignment.

What are the representational differences between situations that do and do not map well onto previous experiences? This research offers some answers to this question by having participants compare two narratives that were either reality or fantasy-based. Fantasy-based narratives, with their deviations from reality, were considered similar to situations that do not map well onto previous experience. The concept of systematicity, where high-order relations constrain low-order relations was used to describe such situations (Bowdle & Gentner, 1997). Compared to a reality-based narrative, extra processing is required to maintain a systematic representation of a fantasy-based narrative. One can reduce the amount of processing needed by grounding that fantasy-based narrative in a reality-based or another fantasy-based narrative. Comparative judgments were used to measure processing differences. In three studies, participants read two narratives and then performed a series of comparative judgments derived from retrospective duration judgment (Block, 1992), event-structure perception (Zacks & Tversky, 2001), and structure-mapping theory (Gentner, 1983) research. For example, one of the comparative judgments adopted from structure-mapping theory was the rating of directional similarity, or the similarity rating of the second-read narrative relative to the first-read narrative. Directional similarity was proposed to increase as the amount of processing associated with maintaining a systematic representation of the first and second-read narrative decreased. For Studies 1A-E, the directional similarity was higher for the RealityFirst condition (reality read first) than the FantasyFirst condition (fantasy read first). These results are interpreted as indicated that the increase in directional similarity for the RealityFirst conditions was due to structure lending from the first-read reality-based narrative and that the decrease in directional similarity for the FantasyFirst conditions was due to representational disruption from the first-read fantasy-based narrative. Results also indicated that comparing two reality-based narratives (Studies 2A-B) was similar to comparing two fantasy-based narratives (Studies 3A-B) for the directional similarity and directional duration judgments, but differed for the listing of commonalities and differences and the segmentation of the narrative event structure. According to the systematicity principle (Gentner, 1989), people prefer mappings between two representations that form coherent and highly interconnected structures. The results from Studies 1A-E demonstrate a clear directional preference for the RealityFirst conditions. The results, therefore, indicate that it was more difficult to utilize the inherent structure of the narratives for the FantasyFirst conditions then the RealityFirst conditions. Comparing the results across the final set of studies, the increase in segmentation and increase in word count for the commonalities and differences were clear indications that participants still had difficulties in utilizing the structure of the narratives when both narratives being compared were fantasy-based (Studies 3A-B). In operationalizing systematicity with fantasy and reality-based narratives, I have been able to extend our understanding of how structure-lending can occur between these two narrative types. The results, therefore, extend our understanding of the structural alignment approach to narrative comparisons. But, since this research also involves the theoretical integration of the structure alignment approach (directional similarity and listing of commonalities and differences) with theories of time estimation (directional duration), event structure representation (segmentation), the basic findings herein should be applicable to comparisons ranging from auditory narrative structures to simple lexical units (e.g., unicorns vs. horses) to visual depicted objects (e.g., aliens vs. humans), even if the current set of studies described in this article involved only the comparison of written narrative structure. / text

What makes entrepreneurs select one international opportunity while rejecting or ignoring others? Furthermore, what makes entrepreneurs decide to exploit an international opportunity earlier or later? Two theories of internationalization provide answers to these questions: the Uppsala Model and International Entrepreneurship theory. However, these two theories provide competing answers to these questions, and empirical research offers inconsistent evidence about what influences entrepreneurs to select an international opportunity – and when to exploit the opportunity. To address these issues, I develop a cognitive model that explains when and why the predictions of these theories do (and do not) explain entrepreneurs’ behavior regarding new venture internationalization. More specifically, I propose that entrepreneurs’ internationalization decision making rests, in part, on cognitive processes of similarity comparison and structural alignment. I use a multi-method / multi-study approach to answer the above questions. In the first study, I use verbal protocol techniques to analyze the cognitive processes of entrepreneurs as they ‘think out loud’ while making decisions on international opportunity selection and age at entry. In the second study, I use a survey plus secondary data to test if the actual decisions made by entrepreneurs on international opportunity selection and age at entry correspond to the dissertation’s predictions. Results show that cognitive processes of similarity comparison and structural alignment underpin entrepreneurs’ internationalization decisions. Entrepreneurs rely heavily on commonalities and look for high levels of similarity between the home and host country when deciding when to internationalize their firms. Regarding entrepreneurs’ decisions on international opportunity selection, their decisions reflect the influence of both comparable and noncomparable opportunity features. Interestingly, I observe that prior international knowledge directly impacts entrepreneurs’ internationalization decisions, but also moderates the relationship between similarity considerations and entrepreneurs’ decisions on international opportunity selection. Ultimately, I reconcile and integrate two competing internationalization theories by resolving tensions between them. I demonstrate that the different predictions of the two internationalization theories can be explained by the differential focus that entrepreneurs place on comparable and noncomparable attributes of their opportunity set. I also show the importance of taking an individual-level and cognitive view to understanding these decisions.

The human protein kinase superfamily consists of over 500 members that individually control specific aspects of cell behavior and collectively control the complete range of cellular processes. That such a large group of proteins is able to uniquely diversify and establish individual identities while retaining common enzymatic function and significant sequence/structural conservation is remarkable. The means by which this is achieved is poorly understood, and we have begun to examine the issue by performing a comparative analysis of the catalytic domain of protein kinases. A novel approach for protein structural alignment has revealed a high degree of similarity found across the kinase superfamily, with variability confined largely to a single region thought to be involved in substrate binding. The similarity detected is not limited to amino acids, but includes a group of conserved water molecules that play important structural roles in stabilizing critical residues and the fold of the kinase domain. The development of a novel technique for identifying kinase substrates on a large scale directly from cell lysate has revealed that substrate specificity is not what discriminates the closely related p38α and β mitogen-activated protein kinases. Instead cellular localization appears to be their distinguishing characteristic, at least during myoblast differentiation. Together these results highlight the extent of conservation, as well as the minimal variability, that is found in the catalytic domain of all protein kinase superfamily members, and that while distantly related kinases may be distinguished by substrate specificity, closely related kinases are likely to be distinguished by other factors. Although these results focus on representative members of the kinase superfamily, they give insight as to how all protein kinases likely diversified and established unique non-redundant identities. In addition, the novel techniques developed and presented here for structural alignment and substrate discovery offer new tools for studying molecular biology and cell signaling.