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The Effects Of Transformational And Transactional Leadership On Job Satisfaction Affective Commitment And Turnover Intentions Among Teleworkers, Janet L. Bryant

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

This study is among the first to examine the influence of leadership among teleworkers. Effects of transformational and transactional leadership on job satisfaction, affective commitment, and turnover intentions were examined in a secondary data analysis of 128 teleworkers. Hierarchical linear regression results support the influence of both forms of leadership on these outcomes, although an augmentation effect for transformational leadership was observed only for affective commitment and turnover intentions. Findings from moderated regression analyses indicate that the effect of transformational leadership degrades with increasing telework frequency. This study shows that leadership is important in telework arrangements, although the manner in …

Science Comprehension: Effects Of Text Coherence And Reader Aptitudes, Kimberly G. Cottrell

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

There is a significant need to improve reading comprehension as typical textbooks, particularly science textbooks, are often too difficult for the average student to comprehend. The overall purpose of this study was to examine which reader aptitudes, specifically prior domain knowledge, reading ability, metacognitive reading strategy knowledge, and motivation, were most predictive of science text comprehension, and whether these relationships varied as a function of text coherence. Further, the purpose entailed which factors (reading ability, metacognitive reading strategy knowledge, and motivation) may assist low knowledge readers to compensate for knowledge deficits, particularly when reading low-coherence texts. There were 241 undergraduate …

War At Home Spouse Abuse In Military Families, Carrie L. Gray

Sociology & Criminal Justice Theses & Dissertations

This study examines the patterns, tendencies, and physical severity of spouse abuse in military families. The demographic makeup of military families in many ways parallels that of violent families in the civilian community. Therefore, this study will determine if certain variables will be similarly correlated in cases of wife abuse within military families as they are in civilian families. Although a significant amount of research has been conducted on spouse abuse in the last thirty years, family violence within military families has been virtually ignored. This study utilizes secondary data provided by the Navy Family Advocacy Central Registry located in …

Self-Management And Telework: Assessing The Performance Of A Remote Workforce, Michael C. Mihalecz

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The role of self-management practices in task and citizenship performance was examined with data from 127 participants employed as teleworkers by eight public and private organizations. A self-management practices instrument was validated. The instrument was then used to investigate the effect of self-management on task and citizenship performance. The use of two self-management practices, goal setting and external aids, successfully predicted both task and citizenship performance, Results of the study provide evidence that the use of self-management may impact several performance domains. Discussion focused on the implications of the results for managing remote workers.

The Impact Of Place Of Residence On The Academic Achievement And Retention Of First-Time-In-College Students At An Urban Commuter University, Tameria Lee Vickerson

Theses and Dissertations in Urban Services - Urban Education

This study explored the impact of place of residence on the academic achievement and retention of full-time, first-time-in-college students at an urban, public, primarily commuter university in the Southeast. Three groups of subjects were compared to ascertain if any group differences existed in regard to mean freshman grade point average, grades earned in a common course taken (Freshman English I), and retention into the second year of study. The three subject groups that were compared included residential learning community, traditional residence hall, and commuter students.

The subject groups were matched on the demographic characteristics of age, gender, and ethnicity and …

Population Mobility High-Risk Environments And The Diffusion Of Hiv/Stds: A Community Based Study In Southwest China, Hongyun Fu

Sociology & Criminal Justice Theses & Dissertations

Globally, population migration has been associated with the spread ofHIV/STDs in many countries. A similar trend has been observed in China from the very beginning of the HIV epidemic, but empirical research is very limited. Furthermore, the previous studies mainly focused on the micro impact of migration on individual migrant's risky behaviors. The impact of population mobility on the general population, especially on non-migrant residents, has been ignored. Using data collected from a specially designed community level survey, which was conducted in a province in the Southwest of China, this study examines the macro-level association between temporary migration and the …

Predictors Of Oral Health Behaviors: Examining The Effect Of Patient Perceived Humanistic Attitude In The Context Of The Health Belief Model, Linda Leigh Hawkins Carroll

Health Services Research Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to test the explanatory power of The Health Belief Model with the added environmental condition of perceived humanistic attitude of a dental hygienist in its ability to predict individual's performance of oral disease prevention behaviors. A cross section survey of an intact group of 1,943 full time employees of Old Dominion University was conducted. The response rate was 52% (n = 1001). An exclusionary rule eliminated respondents who did not have a dental hygienist provide preventive services during dental visits. Seven hundred and fifty four were included in the study analyses. The study participants …

Early Intervention With Children At Risk Of Emotional/Behavioral Disorders: A Critical Examination Of Research Methodology And Practices, Peggy P. Hester, Heather M. Baltodano, Robert A. Gable, Stephen W. Tonelson, Jo M. Hendrickson

Communication Disorders & Special Education Faculty Publications

Children's behavior problems pose challenges to families, schools, and society. The research literature argues that early detection/intervention is the most powerful course of action in ameliorating these problems in children at risk of emotional/behavioral disorders. However, specifying precisely what constitutes a quality program of early intervention is not a simple task. Current conceptualizations suggest that successful early intervention cannot be unidimensional in nature, but must consist of a complex series of interactions and transactions that synergistically serve to nurture and enhance both the development of the child and family. In this paper, we reviewed the accumulated research to learn more …

The Effect Of The Clery Act On Campus Judicial Practices, Dennis E. Gregory, Steven M. Janosik

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Faculty Publications

This article describes a study seeking to assess perceptions of campus judicial officers/members of the Association for Student Judicial Affairs (ASJA) regarding the effectiveness of the Clery Act (Campus Security Act) on campus judicial practices. In addition it provides information regarding overall effectiveness of Clery as perceived by the respondents. The researchers surveyed 1,143 members of the Association for Student Judicial Affairs (ASJA) whose institutions are covered by the Act. A total of 422 ASJA members returned questionnaires. This provided a response rate of 36.9%. The respondents included 39% Senior Student Affairs Officers who supervise a judicial conduct administrator, 44% …

Effects Of Enhanced Evaluative Feedback On Student Grades, Roney A. Mcdaniel

OTS Master's Level Projects & Papers

The following hypothesis was developed to guide this study: 1. Students in the OTS 110T, Technology in Your World, class at Old Dominion University that receive enhanced evaluative feedback will earn higher grades than those students receiving normal feedback.

Effects Of Group Versus Individual Instruction On At-Risk Students Grade Point Averages, Christine S. Ricks

OTS Master's Level Projects & Papers

The following hypothesis was applied to this study: 1. there is no correlation between the grades of probation students who attended a six week Academic Success Group and those who met with their adviser for six individual advising sessions and their rates of retention after the freshman year.

Treatment Of Adynamia In Aphasia, Anastasia M. Raymer

Communication Disorders & Special Education Faculty Publications

Transcortical motor aphasia (TCMA) is an acquired impairment of language expression that occurs following neurologic damage that affects left frontal cortex and spares perisylvian regions. In some individuals with TCMA, verbal expression is rendered nonfluent due to difficulty spontaneously initiating and elaborating upon verbal messages. Nonfluency arises from impaired activation of intended messages and inhibition of competing verbal expressions. This impairment of the intentional aspects of language expression can be termed 'adynamia.' Because adynamic forms of TCMA occur infrequently, few systematic treatment investigations have been reported for this condition. Behavioral treatments have been proposed to engage intact frontal regions to …

"How Many Lesbians Does It Take To Screw In A Light Bulb?", Janet M. Bing, Dana Heller

English Faculty Publications

This paper explores how humor reveals shared aspects of a culture of lesbian communities in the US. For lesbians, jokes and other forms of humor are an active, narrative means of self-construction and community imagining that help lesbians negotiate their positions both inside and outside mainstream culture. Whether consciously or unconsciously, much of lesbian humor challenges the dominant culture by rejecting its definitions of and presuppositions about lesbians, and by making lesbian experience central to its understanding of normalcy. Whereas the term "lesbian joke" usually activates a sex frame for the dominant culture, much humor created by and for lesbians …

Dread, Route And Time: An Autobiographical Walking Of Everything Else, Phil Smith

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

[First paragraph]

This response to Reconstruction's Summer 2002 edition, Volume 2, Number 3, autobiogeography: considering space and identity, particularly to the papers of Matthew Wolf-Meyer and Davin Heckman, Subhash Jaireth, Deirdre Heddon and Sally Munt, is an attempt to establish provisionally whether a discourse that sets critical theory, autobiographical practice and a poetics of space in performative motion orbiting each other can add anything to the critical discussion of autobiogeography. Part of my motivation is an antipathy toward criticism that can be applied to everything but itself. Given that hybridity will be an important part of a critical discourse about …

You Still My Girl?: Adolescent Femininity As Resistance In Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Sophie Levy

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

[First paragraph]

History is where the dead things are. Buffy, as her Watcher Rupert Giles tells her mother Joyce, resists the historical. She lives very much in the now, and history of course, is very much about the then he stammers, aware perhaps of the history echoing in his British accent (Angel I:7). The show's appeal, however, resides in its battle with history, not its denial. History is the repressed but resurrected, whether personal -- Giles' dark age of demon-worship comes back to (almost) kill him (The Dark Age II:8) -- or cultural, such as the Master's bad Old World …

Telemedicine: The Practice Of Medicine At A Distance, Philip A. Reed

STEMPS Faculty Publications

Discusses the increase in the effectiveness and uses of telemedicine due to developments and advances in computing, imaging and telecommunications. History of telemedicine; Information on various areas of telemedicine; Reasons for disappearance of physicians' handwriting problems.

Inquiry In Technology Education, Philip A. Reed, Kurt R. Helgeson (Ed.), Anthony E. Schwaller (Ed.)

STEMPS Faculty Publications

Technology education involves much more than instruction of the artifacts and methods of technology. The increasing amount and complexity of technology require students to know how to use, manage, assess, and understand technology. Inquiry is a cognitive instructional strategy that can help students learn about current technologies and also provide them with tools for investigating emerging technologies as they are encountered.

Rogerian Rhetoric As Negotiation: Does Its Dependence On Game Theory Pose Ethical Problems?, Stacy Fussell Thorne

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

[First paragraph]

In the war game Diplomacy, players win by gaining control of Europe. In order to win, however, players must successfully negotiate with other players, make alliances with them, and sometimes gain the support of their ally's military resources, their armies or fleets. In the rules of the game, Diplomacy is described as

a game of negotiations, alliances, promises kept, and promises broken. In order to survive, a player needs help from others. In order to win the game, a player must eventually stand alone. Knowing whom to trust, when to trust them, what to promise, and when …

Spaces Of Motherhood, Deirdre Conlon, Marcus Carvalho

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

[First paragraph]

In this paper our aim is to critically evaluate motherhood, as a social production that is deeply imbricated with the ideologies of patriarchy, technology and capitalism. We ground our analysis in Henri Lefebvre's (1994) theory on the social production of space and Barbara Katz-Rothman's (2000) examination of motherhood as it is constituted through ideology. Further, we draw on Smith's (1997) observation that it is possible to examine the production of space and materialization of capitalism at different scales; in this paper we focus specifically on the scale of the body and of the house in order to consider …

Review Of The Three Ecologies, By Felix Guattari, Matthew Wolf-Myer

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

No abstract provided.

An Examination Of Personality As A Predictor Of Guard Behavior In A Virtual Environment, Jean M. Catanzaro

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Military personnel need access to realistic training tools that can provide a safe environment in which to acquire skills that will generalize to real world tasks. A virtual environment (VE) is one such tool. The focus of the present study was to evaluate a VE as a training tool for military guards. The first goal was to examine the potential of VE technology to provide effective training for standing watch at a military checkpoint. The second goal was to study a set of personality traits that might predict performance. Participants completed the NEO Personality Inventory and were trained to perform …

The Role Of Alexithymia In Ethnic Groups On Eating-Related Attitudes And Behaviors, Lisa M. Newman

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Alexithymia, a term referring to deficits in ability to describe and differentiate emotions, has been studied in a variety of Caucasian medical and psychiatric populations, including patients with eating disorders. Research suggests that alexithymia is more prevalent among the Caucasian eating disordered population than the general population. However, there is little research on the prevalence of alexithymia or its relationship to problematic eating-related attitudes and behaviors in African Americans. This study investigated and compared the occurrence of alexithymia and its effects on eating-related attitudes and behaviors in Caucasian and African American college women using the Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20 and the …

Privatize Or Self-Operate: Decision-Making In Campus Services Management, Jeffrey Shelton Pittman

Theses and Dissertations in Urban Services - Urban Education

In the past colleges operated as communities in which teaching and almost every other aspect of campus life were managed by a campus entity. This is particularly true in the area of campus support services. In recent years, there has been a significant shift in the way campus services are provided. Increasingly, college and university administrators evaluate the benefits and potential problems of privatizing or outsourcing various service units. Currently, such services as bookstores, food preparation/service operations, and physical plant departments have been the primary services chosen for privatization.

This study examines the decision-making process governing the choice between privatization …

Proactive Personality And The Big Five As Predictors Of Motivation To Learn, Jonathan E. Turner

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

In an environment of changing psychological contracts, corporate downsizing, and increases in alternative self-paced training delivery channels, motivation to learn is believed to represent a key variable in employee self-development that distinguishes employees who will thrive from those who will not. Predicting this variable, then, becomes an important step in managing workforce development and helping employees help themselves. Therefore, the efficacy of relevant personality characteristics as predictors of motivation to learn was investigated. Proactive personality and the Big Five factors of personality were hypothesized to be predictive of motivation to learn. These personality variables are relevant because they have been …

A Comparison Of Human Energy Fields Among Children, Youth, Adults, & Dahn Masters, Geoffrey K. Leigh, Karen A. Polonko, Catherine D. Leigh

Sociology & Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

While concepts and investigations of human energy fields have been developed for centuries, there has been little systematic work comparing the fields of children, adolescents, and adults. In addition, general fields have had little comparison between average adults and those participating in an intense practice that may affect the field. Using the GDV machine, this research compared small groups of children, adolescents, average adults, and Dahn Hak Masters on measures of 20 basic aspects of the human energy fields, including the seven chakras. Differences were found in seven of the 13 field parameters as well as all seven measures of …

Work And Family Variables As Related To Paternal Engagement, Responsibility, And Accessibility In Dual-Earner Couples With Young Children, Suzanne M. Nangle, Michelle L. Kelley, William Fals-Stewart, Ronald F. Levant

Psychology Faculty Publications

Fathers and mothers (N = 75 dual-earner couples) of preschool-aged children completed questionnaires that examined work and family variables as related to paternal involvement in three areas: engagement (i.e., directly interacting with the child), responsibility (i.e., scheduling activities and being accountable for the child's well-being), and accessibility (i.e., being available to the child but not in direct interaction). Fathers' reports of responsibility and accessibility were significantly predicted by structural variables and beliefs; however, fathers' reports of engagement were not predicted by work and family variables. Mothers' reports of work and family variables did not predict their reports of father involvement. …

The Contribution Of Enactments To Structural Family Therapy: A Process Study, Stephanie Fellenberg

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

In an era where the effectiveness of many forms of psychotherapy has been thoroughly examined, the focus of many researchers has shifted from investigating outcome to exploring therapeutic processes. Process studies serve to identify the active ingredients of therapy—that is, those interventions that bring about in-session changes. This process study examines the relationship between the use of enactments, a structural family therapy intervention, and in-session change as observed over the course of the session. Change was measured by the amount of change that occurred in the core problem dynamic, that is, the most prominent pattern of dysfunctional family …

Prayer As Interpersonal Coping In The Lives Of Mothers With Hiv, E. James Baesler, Valerian J. Derlega, Barbara A. Winstead, Anita Barbee

Communication & Theatre Arts Faculty Publications

The spirituality of 22 mothers diagnosed with HIV was explored through face-to-face interviews and revealed that 95% of the mothers pray. Active prayers (e.g., talking to God by adoring, thanking, confessing, and supplicating) were more frequently reported than receptive prayers (e.g., quietly listening to God, being open, surrendering). Supplicatory or petitionary prayers for help and health were the most frequent type of prayer, and adoration was the least frequent. The majority of mothers in the sample perceived prayer as a positive coping mechanism associated with outcomes such as: support, positive attitude/affect, and peace. Overall, results supported expanding the boundary conditions …

Development Of An Aggregation Methodology For Risk Analysis In Aerospace Conceptual Vehicle Design, Trina Marsh Chytka

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The growing complexity of technical systems has emphasized a need to gather as much information as possible regarding specific systems of interest in order to make robust, sound decisions about their design and deployment. Acquiring as much data as possible requires the use of empirical statistics, historical information and expert opinion. In much of the aerospace conceptual design environment, the lack of historical information and infeasibility of gathering empirical data relegates the data collection to expert opinion.

The conceptual design of a space vehicle requires input from several disciplines (weights and sizing, operations, trajectory, etc.). In this multidisciplinary environment, the …

Examining The Equivalence Of Rater Groups In 360-Degree Feedback For Use In Leadership Development, Amy Fitzgibbons

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

This study assessed the seldom-considered aspect of measurement equivalence across the three most common rater groups in 360-degree feedback systems. The graded response model for polytomous items was used to assess differential functioning of items and tests and applied to an archival data set of 664 ratees to determine the equivalence of peer, subordinate, and supervisor ratings of four leadership competencies. The results indicate that the leadership competencies were invariant across the three rater groups. The results and conclusions produced are discussed with practical implications in mind.