Digital Commons Network^™

Evaluating Earnings Management With Derivatives And The Use Of Accounting Accruals: A Quasi Experimental Approach, Margot S. Geagon

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Most companies listed on the S&P 500 index have reported smoothed earnings since the 1990s inspiring questions from regulators about the accuracy of financial statements. In 1998, the Financial Accounting Standards Board issued SFAS No. 133 (Accounting for Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities) to establish accounting and reporting standards for derivative instruments. In 2002, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) was issued to eradicate earnings management activities and improve transparency in financial reporting. Although many studies have been conducted to evaluate changes in reporting requirements, much less is known about the effectiveness of these regulations on earning smoothing with discretionary accruals (DA) …

Survey Study Of The Relationship Between Parents' And Teachers' Perceptions Of What Constitutes Effective School -To -Home Communications, Jill L. Murphy

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Even though guidelines at a suburban elementary school in Georgia were in place for teachers regarding frequency and methods of parent communication, it was unclear if these methods were being used consistently and effectively. Research has shown that effective communication increases student achievement, but there is a lack of research examining communication preferences of teachers and parents. Therefore, this study evaluated current practices by comparing parents' and teachers' perceptions of what constitutes effective school-to-home communications. The researcher administered questionnaires to a random sample of teachers and parents of 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students to compare their perceptions of the …

Understanding Middle School Students' Perspectives Regarding Physical Activity And Fitness, Susan Yesalonia

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Research confirms inactivity increases in adolescence and that unfit youth are at risk of acquiring cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, obesity, or other significant physical disorders later in life. Thus, the purpose of this phenomenological study was to describe the experience of chronically inactive children who were exposed to an exercise intervention program. The specific focus of the research was to better understand the essential educational needs of the participants and the effective elements of the program, Moving for Fun (MFF), a 7-week after-school fitness intervention program designed to modify chronic inactivity. Open-ended interviews and 3 observations were conducted with 8 middle …

A Comparison Of Lifestyle Intervention Sessions And Clinical Screening As Motivators In The South Dakota Wisewoman Program, Jacy Clarke

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

WISEWOMAN (WW) is a comprehensive program for medically underserved women in South Dakota (SD), aged 30 to 64, which aims to reduce morbidity and mortality from chronic diseases. Screening services include blood total cholesterol, blood pressure and blood glucose, and body mass index (BMI). Lifestyle intervention (LSI) sessions are also offered to address physical activity and nutrition. The purpose of this retrospective longitudinal study was to quantitatively examine whether the combination of LSI's and clinical screenings or clinical screenings alone lead to improvements in blood pressure, blood glucose, total cholesterol, and/or BMI at rescreening 10 to14 months from initial screening. …

Personal And Professional Spirituality: Muslim Social Workers' Perspectives, Cheryl W. El-Amin

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Research in the area of religion and spirituality in social work practice is lacking minority practitioner representation. This phenomenological study explored the questions of how American Muslim social workers define and experience the religious/spiritual, and perceive the propriety of integrating either, in practice. Ibn Khaldun and Durkheim, early social theorists, suggested that group feeling and affiliation impact personal and professional perception and decision making. American societal views of Muslims are often negative and uninformed. A group of 15 Muslim practitioners with bachelor's or more advanced degrees in social work were recruited through a survey administered via an Internet survey site. …

Defining The International Accounting Standard Board's Governance Network, Patricia A. Rossman

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

There is little empirical research identifying the structural forces influencing the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB). The purpose of this study was to analyze the structural forces underlying international accounting regulation to contribute insights useable by the public, politicians, and scholars to conceptualize the processes of international accounting regulation. Based on stakeholder theory, legitimacy theory, and social network theory it was posited that this network is rationally created to serve certain stakeholder groups in the face of divergent stakeholder interests. The research questions for this study addressed the organizations which constituted the IASB's governance network, the professional and geographic perspectives …

Andragogy: Does One Size Fit All? A Study To Determine The Applicability Of Andragogical Principles To Adult Learners Of All Ages, Wendy Conaway

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

According to Knowles's theory of andragogy, the principles of adult learning are the need to know, self-directedness, the role of experience, intrinsic motivation, and readiness to learn. Whereas references in the andragogical literature have assumed that the principles uniformly apply to adults of all ages, differences between adult age groups may influence the effectiveness of the principles on adult learning. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate which adult age group was most accepting of the principles so that more effective teaching may occur. Three adult age groups, emerging adults (18-25), young adults (26-39), and mature adults (40-59) …

The Lived Experience Of Hiv-Positive Tanzanian Orphans, Carol A. Parker

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The purpose of this investigation was to generate a context- specific model of the lived experience of HIV positive Tanzanian orphans. With the advent of anti-retroviral drugs, Sub-Saharan African populations with high burdens of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) face annually accumulating increases in the number of HIV positive children, and ultimately adults. Perinatally infected, these children often become orphans while still young. Extended interviews were performed with a purposive sample of 12 HIV infected orphaned children between 9 and 12 years of age. Half of the research participants lived in an orphanage and half were children living with guardians in …

The Intersection Of Punctuated Equilibrium And Leadership Emergence Within The Framework Of Naturalistic Decision Making, Linda Moerschell

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Punctuated equilibrium, a theory of unexpected and sudden change arising out of evolutionary biology and paleontology, has been applied to decision sciences, physics, organizational theory, and group behavior but never to leadership emergence theories. The purpose of the study was to discover how leadership emerges during a period of punctuated equilibrium, a sudden and unexpected change event, using a naturalistic decision making framework. Thus, the research question probed how leadership emergence could be theoretically modeled in a critical event. This grounded theory study was particularly unique because it drew from, and helped unify the four scientific foundations of complexity science, …

Public Policy, Social Change, And The Ethics Triangle: Undocumented Immigrants And Higher Education In The United States, Matthew Collins, Giselle Reid

Journal of Sustainable Social Impact

The institutions of higher education in the United States face the dilemma of deciding whether to admit and matriculate students without legal immigration status. This public policy question involves careful interpretation of federal and state law, general public sentiment, the effects on the individual institutions, as well as the plight of undocumented immigrant students and their parents. The purpose of this research was to analyze the ethical dilemma facing colleges and universities concerning whether to allow or deny admission to undocumented immigrant students, utilizing the ethics triangle. This research argued that the benefits of facilitating higher education for undocumented students …

The Ability Of Firefighting Personnel To Cope With Stress, David Milen

Journal of Sustainable Social Impact

The purpose of this study was to identify the effectiveness of the coping strategies and resources that firefighters use to deal with personal and workplace stressors. One hundred and fifteen firefighting personnel from 4 fire departments in Illinois and Indiana participated. The Coping Resources Inventory for Stress (CRIS) Scale measured stress levels and coping strategies. The results showed that firefighters who were not physically fit, who lacked social support, and who were unable to control tension and structure daily activities experienced feelings of low confidence. The findings from this study can provide fire department administrators and company officers with ways …

Bridging The Divide: Principles For Healthy Corporate Social Responsibility Partnerships, Mark Gordon, Donna Daniels

Journal of Sustainable Social Impact

In its infancy, corporate social responsibility (CSR) focused on environmental issues rather than the provision of a wider array of support to local communities. Today, CSR includes strong partnerships between multinational corporations and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). Previous research has demonstrated that corporations that partner with NGOs are more visible to their key stakeholders. Through a longitudinal, in-depth study of Merck Thailand and the Raks Thai Foundation in Bangkok, Thailand, this case study identified best practices for a multinational company interested in partnering with a local NGO. From those practices, the research identified the key principles that sustain the partnership: leadership, …

Changing The Negative Behavioral And Development Outcomes To A Toxic Prenatal Environment Through Maternal Education, Angela Eileen Laughlin Lebedev

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of current education materials on changing maternal smoking attitudes. Children are affected by prenatal exposure to tobacco smoke. Although there are educational efforts to discourage pregnant women from smoking, the practice continues in a significant number of pregnancies. New materials, based on current research, were also evaluated for effectiveness. The theoretical framework for this study was adult learning theory presented by Knowles which made the assumption that an individual is shaped by environmental systems, that adult learning is affected by previous knowledge they bring to the learning and that adults …

E-Commerce Sourcing Models, Anne Fulcher Nelson

International Journal of Applied Management and Technology

Electronic commerce (EC) involves business transactions, marketing efforts, information gathering, and other functional activities with respect to information technology (IT) both within and without an organization. It provides various opportunities to a firm to adopt different business sourcing models and allows new opportunities to configure organizational structure for both private and public companies within the New Economy. Critical factors for EC success dictate that the firm must re-evaluate its business sourcing model from with complexity theory and the New Economy, thereby emphasizing the need for the firm to effectively coordinate its EC initiatives and consider all sourcing opportunities in this …

Enhancing Motivation And Work Performance Of The Salespeople: The Impact Of Supervisors’ Behavior, Mohammed S. Chowdhury

International Journal of Applied Management and Technology

This study examines the importance of authoritarian and positive achievement motivation behavior of the supervisors in enhancing salespeople’s motivation and work performance. Survey data were collected from all 105 sales employees in two retail organizations. Supervisors’ ratings were collected on all 105 of the salespersons. All hypotheses were tested using regression analysis and Pearson correlations controlling for background variables of gender, marital status, and ethnicity. The findings indicated that to the extent that supervisors engaged in positive motivational behaviors, salespersons’ intrinsic motivations were increased, which, in turn, increased their performance. Implications and a number of recommendations are discussed.

Strategic Themes For Balanced Scorecard Construction Based On Fuzzy Logic, Adolfo Alberto Vanti, Rafael Espin, Alonso Perez-Soltero, Denise Ciotta

International Journal of Applied Management and Technology

Balanced Scorecard is a methodology for strategic management with emphasis in strategic, tactic, and operational control. If you don’t measure something, you don’t manage it. Last statement is a way to emphasizes one of the most important assumptions of this methodology that is very well implemented by it. However, BSC can’t express strategy in actions, nor translate verbalization of strategic planning, important topics to build an effective Balance Scorecard. This paper defines priorities of topics about strategic planning considering the SWOT analysis - strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats – (Andrews, 1971). SWOT analysis is completed considering actions and objectives through Fuzzy …

The Adoption And Diffusion Of Computing And Internet Technologies In Historically Black Colleges And Universities, Lawrence Joseph

International Journal of Applied Management and Technology

The rapid growth of technologies is providing the opportunity for innovative design and delivery of curriculum and instructional materials to college students; yet many college faculty members, especially in historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU), are not using this technology. With a widening gap in access to technologies for minorities, this is a significant issue. In this study, specific research questions focused on HBCU faculty’s current use of technology, desire to incorporate new technology, view of organizational support, and potential gender or age differences. Surveys were conducted at five HBCU with established records of leadership in education. Using quantitative statistics, …

Mixed-Integer Linear Programming For Vehicle Routing Problem With Simultaneous Delivery And Pick-Up With Maximum Route-Length, S. P. Anbuudayasankar, K. Mohandas

International Journal of Applied Management and Technology

The vehicle routing problem with simultaneous delivery and pick-up (VRPSDP) is the problem of optimally assimilating goods collection and distribution, when no priority constraints are imposed on the order in which the vehicle must perform the operations. This paper considers an additional constraint of maximum route length in VRPSDP. We develop a mixed-integer linear programming model for VRPSDP with an additional constraint of maximum route length. The results are encouraging for a sample benchmark data set.

Supply Chain Collaborations Changing The Face Of Indian Automobile, Arpita Khare

International Journal of Applied Management and Technology

The emphasis given on improving supply chains in organizations both by companies and academia in past two decades shows the growing importance of integrating manufacturing and marketing processes of organizations. In the recent years supply networks are being recognized as strategic tools that enable companies to fight global competitive battles.

The paper studies the nature of supplier collaborations and technology’s role in improving coordination across the supplier networks. The paper provides an insight into supplier networks of Indian automobile companies and presents some cases to demonstrate this.

Mitigating Denial-Of-Service Attacks On Voip Environment, Igor Jouravlev

International Journal of Applied Management and Technology

IP telephony refers to the use of Internet protocols to provide voice, video, and data in one integrated service over LANs, BNs, MANs, not WANs. VoIP provides three key benefits compared to traditional voice telephone services. First, it minimizes the need fro extra wiring in new buildings. Second, it provides easy movement of telephones and the ability of phone numbers to move with the individual. Finally, VoIP is generally cheaper to operate because it requires less network capacity to transmit the same voice telephone call over an increasingly digital telephone network (FitzGerald & Dennis, 2007 p. 519). Unfortunately, benefits of …

The Attitudes Of Regular Education Teachers Regarding Inclusion For Students With Autism, Kimberly Showalter-Barnes

Frank Dilley Award for Outstanding Doctoral Study

This study addressed the problem of students with autism being placed in regular education classrooms and the lack of support of regular educators toward this practice. This research study was based upon the theoretical construct of attitude. Attitude is an important concept related to inclusion as teacher expectations and attitude affect student performance. This research study examined teacher attitude toward inclusion of students with autism based upon years of teaching experience, current teaching placement, gender, previous experience with inclusion, and amount of training regarding autism. The study sample consisted of 178 regular educators selected by cluster and random sampling within …

Bridging The Gap: Home-School Partnerships In Kindergarten, Keenjal Pattni-Shah

Frank Dilley Award for Outstanding Doctoral Study

Although home-school partnerships support Kindergarten children's development of vocabulary, the alphabetic principle, and phonological awareness, the mechanisms through which these partnerships are established and facilitated with immigrant parents from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds are largely unknown. Therefore, the major research questions that guided this qualitative, grounded theory study focused on exploring how successful Kindergarten teachers defined home-school partnerships with parents, the strategies the teachers used to communicate with parents, the ways these teachers reached out to parents to create and sustain partnerships, and how the teachers used these partnerships to support children's learning. Vygotsky's sociocultural theory served as the …

Transitional Justice In Postconflict Contexts: The Case Of Sierra Leone's Dual Accountability Mechanisms, Lydia Apori-Nkansah

Harold L. Hodgkinson Award for Outstanding Dissertation

Literature on in-depth studies of dual transitional justice mechanisms in postconflict settings is inadequate. This qualitative case study sought to understand the practice of dual transitional justice by examining the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and the Special Court engaged for transitional justice in postconflict Sierra Leone. Data consisted of documentary sources, observational field notes and 31 individual semi-structured interviews with open-ended questions of Sierra Leonean public officials, United Nations officials, and TRC and Special Court officials, as well as civil society actors. Data were analyzed through detailed "description", "categorical aggregation", "direct interpretation", establishment of "correspondence and patterns", and development …

Changing The Negative Behavioral And Developmental Outcomes To A Toxic Prenatal Environment Through Parent Education, Angela Elieen Laughlin Lebedev

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of current education materials on changing maternal smoking attitudes. Children are affected by prenatal exposure to tobacco smoke. Although there are educational efforts to discourage pregnant women from smoking, the practice continues in a significant number of pregnancies. New materials, based on current research, were also evaluated for effectiveness. The theoretical framework for this study was adult learning theory presented by Knowles which makes the assumption that an individual is shaped by environmental systems, that adult learning is affected by previous knowledge they bring to the learning and that adults …

Family Message Journals: A Tool For Writing Instruction Combined With Parent Involvement, Sandi Michele Mccann

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Mandates on reading and math achievement in elementary education in rural Georgia have led to a decline in writing proficiency as the subject becomes increasingly neglected. At the same time, schools strive to increase parental involvement programs. Consequently, there is a need for more research on the impact of parental involvement on student writing proficiency. Accordingly, this qualitative case study examined the impact of Family Message Journals (FMJ) and parent participation on teaching writing across the curriculum. Participants included 6 third-graders and their parents. Students wrote in journals 4 days per week across the 4 months of the study, and …

Prognostic Factors Of Varying Treatment Outcomes For Onychomycosis (Nail Fungal Infection) Patients, Bin Cai

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Prevalence of onychomycosis, as high as 26.9% in the general population, can be reduced by improving current antifungal treatment. This could be accomplished by understanding prognostic factors, especially healthy nail growth, associated with achieving complete cure. This population-based study aimed to evaluate if healthy nail length or percentage of total full nail length as healthy can be early indictors for complete cure. Logistics regression analyses were performed by comparing variables between a population who achieved the complete cure and a population who failed after both populations received the same antifungal treatment in two large randomized double-blinded clinical trials that assessed …

The Impact Of Professional Development On Assessment And Grading Practices For Secondary Teachers, Nicole Lynn Roorda

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Studies suggest that a potential misalignment between assessment and grading practices in reporting secondary student academic achievement has negatively impacted students since grades may not truly reflect actual achievement. Accordingly, the purpose of the current study was to compare secondary teachers' use of academic and nonacademic factors when reporting student achievement before and after professional development on assessment and grading practices. Following change theory, the study investigated the efficacy of employing professional development as a means of influencing more standard and appropriate practices among secondary teachers with regard to using academic and nonacademic factors when employing standards-based reporting to determine …

The Impact Of Visual Art Instruction On Student Creativity, Jeanie S. Parker

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

This researcher examined the relationship between visual arts programs and creative thinking skills of high school students taking a foundations of music course and an introductory visual art course. A gap existed in the current literature concerning visual art experience and creativity among high school students. This study was based upon the theories of Eisner, Gardner, and Csikszentmihalyi concerning creativity and art experiences. This researcher used a quasi-experimental, nonequivalent control group design. A convenience sample of 2 high school fine arts classes was comprised of 1 visual art class and 1 foundations of music class, giving a sample of 50 …

Nonprofit Organizations: An Introduction To Charity Rating Sources And Cautions In Their Use, Diana Stork, Jill Woodilla

International Journal of Applied Management and Technology

We describe services that rate the performance of charitable organizations in the United States as a potential source of data for comparisons by donors and may be of interest and use to researchers. Such services have the potential to be considered as a surrogate for quality metrics in the nonprofit sector. The three services considered, The American Institute of Philanthropy, Charity Navigator, and the Wise Giving Alliance of the Better Business Bureau, create different rating schemes. Statistical analyses of a dataset comprised of charities in the Nonprofit Times Top 100 clarify points of similarity and difference among the services. We …

The Impact Of Powers-Of-Two Based Schedule On The Minimization Of Inventory Costs In A Multi Product Manufacturing Environment, V. Mahesh, Sandeep Dulluri, A. Chennakesava Reddy, C.S.P Rao

International Journal of Applied Management and Technology

This paper discusses about the scheduling problem of a multi product manufacturing industry. Often there has been a problem of applying optimization algorithms to solve the makespan minimization criterion of a job shop due to its inherent NP-hard nature. It is therefore unrealistic to try obtaining a solution through a commercial solver in polynomial time. In this context, we propose a computationally effective heuristic, which is based on the powers-of-two policy in inventory, for solving the minimum makespan problem of job shop scheduling. The research discussed in the current paper is a real time scheduling problem faced by a large …