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The Architecture And Iconography Of The Hindu Temple In Eads, Tennessee, Adrian Greville Smythies

All ETDs from UAB

Many Hindu temples have been built in the United States over the last thirty years. While the sociological reasons for this phenomenon have received scholarly attention, there is little published work on their architecture and iconography. My research redresses this by focusing on the architecture and iconography of the recently completed temple at Eads, Tennessee, selected because it was built to resemble traditional temples in south India. Eads was designed by a prolific Hindu temple architect and reflects current trends in American Hindu temple design. Specifically, this study identifies, analyses, and documents transformations from traditional temple design occurring in the …

Identification Of Seventh-Day Adventist Health Core Convictions : Alignment With Current Healthcare Practice, Randall L. Haffner

Dissertations

Purpose. The prevailing literature suggests that organizations can sustain their vitality and longevity by preserving their core ideology. The purpose of this study is to define and articulate the core convictions of Seventh-day Adventist healthcare and then investigate how the leaders' and employees' cognitive understandings, behaviors, and affective attachments align at Florida Hospital in Orlando, Florida.

Method. This two-phased sequential exploratory study utilizes qualitative research to define the core convictions of Seventh-day Adventist healthcare through historical literature review, analysis of official Church publications, four commissioned scholarly papers, and one-on-one interviews with seasoned healthcare administrators. These findings are then used to …

The Report: Winter 2006, Recreation, Parks, & Tourism Administration; California Polytechnic University - San Luis Obispo

The Report

No abstract provided.

The Nonprofit Human Service Sector: Understanding An Organization's Capacity To Innovate, Rebecca Foss

Master's Theses and Capstones

This qualitative study was designed to understand how a nonprofit human service organization (NHSO) understands, perceives, and engages in innovation strategies in a turbulent environment. This study also examined how environmental factors influence an organization's capacity to innovate. These concepts are relevant for further exploration because the NHSO sector typically operates in a turbulent environment and has multiple stakeholders that mandate change and innovation.

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine staff and board members from three NHSOs located in a New England city. Political economy and resource dependency theories provided a framework to the research questions and analysis. These interviews …

Sources Of Stress, Levels Of Stress, And Coping Strategies Of Faculty And Staff At Northern Caribbean University, Gloria Davis-Roberts

Dissertations

Statement of the problem. Northern Caribbean University, formerly West Indies College, attained university status in June 1999. The purpose of this study was to describe the levels and sources of stress and coping strategies of faculty and staff at Northern Caribbean University (NCU) and to determine if these (levels, sources, and coping strategies) are related to selected demographic characteristics (such as gender, age, marital status, years of employment, and employment status---faculty or staff).

Method. A descriptive survey research design was used to conduct this study in which the Occupational Stress Inventory (OSI) was administered to the facultyand staff of NCU. …

Change Leadership In Small Enterprises: Evidence From Singapore, Thomas Menkhoff, Yue Wah Chay

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Leading change processes in an enterprise is a challenge for many entrepreneurs. Numerous elements influence the outcomes of such transformation processes, including the adopted change leadership style, the implementation skills of the entrepreneur, the particular scenario of change in terms of urgency of change and resistance, the scale of change as well as macro variables. This article sheds light on the change leadership approaches of small Chinese entrepreneurs in Singapore. It aims at examining widespread common-sense assumptions that æAsianÆ small entrepreneurs adopt mostly directive-coercive (autocratic) change leadership approaches. We argue that there is indeed a great diversity and heterogeneity amongst …

Urban Growth And Segregation In The Roanoke, Virginia, Metropolis: The Effects Of Low-Density Development On Low-Income Populations And Racial Minorities, Freed Etienne

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines urban growth patterns in the Roanoke, Virginia, metropolis. It draws on the literature of contemporary human ecology and social area analysis to examine the effects of low-density development on low-income populations and racial minorities. The continuous spread of residential development beyond the boundaries of the central city and older suburbs into more distant, once rural areas is segregating the metropolitan area by race and income. Since the prominence of the so-called "Chicago School" of urban sociology (1913-1940), contemporary urban sociologists have outlined theories and methods to examine how American urban areas have changed and why. This dissertation …

A Study Of The Status Of The Strategic Planning Process As Used By Public School Districts In Six Suburban New York City Counties, Bartholomew Linehan

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Over the past two decades, strategic planning has emerged as a management tool to assist administrators in leading public school districts forward. If strategic planning is an important administrative tool in moving a school district toward its vision, how and in what form is it being utilized in suburban New York City school districts? The purpose of this study was to understand the utilization of strategic planning in suburban New York City school districts and to understand the constraints, training and technical needs regarding strategic planning. This study also discusses the relationship existing between strategic planning and the key district …

Guest Editorial Part 2: Emerging Issues For Secure Knowledge Management—Results Of A Delphi Study, Insu Park

Research & Publications

Secure Knowledge Management (SKM) is one of the emerging areas in both knowledge management and information system disciplines. SKM refers to the management of knowledge while adhering to principles of security and privacy. This study identifies key issues on SKM and draws a consensus among domain experts on the key issues. This study is an attempt to accelerate further research and development in the SKM field. In this study, the authors conducted a three-round Delphi study, identifying 21 issues in the SKM area, along with their importance and urgency ratings. Analyses show that participating experts achieved a higher level of …

Environmental Management Information Systems (Emis) For Sustainable Development: A Conceptual Overview, Omar F. El-Gayar, Brian D. Fritz

Research & Publications

Environmental management information systems (EMIS) is defined as 'organizational-technical systems for systematically obtaining, processing, and making available relevant environmental information available in companies'. Such systems evolved out of a growing need to manage environmental information in response to internal and external pressures such as regulations, consumers, stockholders, and changes in the business environments. While over the past decade EMIS have proliferated in the corporate landscape, these systems have received little attention within the information systems research community as whole. The objective of this paper is to serve as a tutorial providing a conceptual overview of EMIS, highlighting organizational and technical …

Compound Change In Existing Congregations, Lois E. Black

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Winter 2006

University of Richmond Magazine

No abstract provided.

Competent Program Evolution, Doctoral Dissertation, December 2006, Moshe Looks

All Computer Science and Engineering Research

Heuristic optimization methods are adaptive when they sample problem solutions based on knowledge of the search space gathered from past sampling. Recently, competent evolutionary optimization methods have been developed that adapt via probabilistic modeling of the search space. However, their effectiveness requires the existence of a compact problem decomposition in terms of prespecified solution parameters. How can we use these techniques to effectively and reliably solve program learning problems, given that program spaces will rarely have compact decompositions? One method is to manually build a problem-specific representation that is more tractable than the general space. But can this process be …

The Critical Factors Of Coaching Practice Leading To Successful Coaching Outcomes, Margaret K. Marshall

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

The purpose of this study was to identify the critical aspects in coaching outcomes as perceived by experienced coaches in the United States in both business and life coaching settings. Nineteen coaches provided a total of 109 critical incidents that led the client to the coaching process. Six dimensions of coaching emerged from the coding process; personal philosophies of coaching, coach functions, the coaching process, breakdown and success factors, precipitating factors and outcomes of coaching. A model was constructed to depict the relationship of the dimensions to one another. The personal philosophy of the coach influenced every other dimension. The …

Value Creation And Value Capture In Non-Profit Partnerships, Beth Birmingham

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

The purpose of this research is to study how non-profit organizations create value from partnerships, specifically, partnerships between academic institutions and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Apart from the goals of the partnership per se, how do they create long term value for their respective organizations separate from the partnership outcomes? Educational partnerships between academic institutions and other sectors have become common and somewhat necessary in the past decade. The NGOs examined in this study benefited from partnership with an academic institution in the areas of staff development and organizational capacity building. The universities in this study benefited from direct involvement …

Portrait Of An Urban Elementary School: Place-Based Education, School Culture, And Leadership, Michael Thomas Duffin

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This study explored the interaction between place-based education, school culture, and leadership at one elementary school in an inner city section of Boston, MA. The centerpiece is a stand alone research portrait that tells a story about how an external program, a willing and ready school community, and a skillful school leader reinforced each other to achieve a shared vision under challenging conditions. From an under-subscribed school in chaos and lacking focus, the subject school transformed into a vibrant, highly sought school with a pervasive, environmentally-oriented culture and curriculum. Portraiture methods were adapted to a utilization-focused evaluation purpose, drawing on …

The Systematic Nature Of Serendipity In Opportunity Discovery: Implications For The Theory Of Entrepreneurship, Reddi Kotha, Dimo Dimov, Gerard George

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This paper endeavors to disentangle search from serendipity in discoveries of new opportunities. Whereas economic models focus on active search and the tradeoff between its costs and benefits, the Austrian economic tradition posits that individuals do not search for opportunities; it is their alertness that helps them to profit from arbitrage opportunities from the imperfect decisions of others. Further, their alertness reflects their unique prior experience. Yet, despite the intuitive soundness of these ideas, some recent experimental empirical work to test them has highlighted the need for stronger theoretical precision. Are serendipitous solutions better than active search solutions? Can serendipitous …

Servant-Leadership: A Brief Look At Love And The Organizational Perspective, Kathleen Patterson

International Journal of Servant-Leadership

According to Robert K. Greenleaf, Love is an indefinable term, and its manifestations are both subtle and infinite. But it begins, I believe, with one absolute condition: unlimited liability! As soon as one's liability for another is qualified to any degree, love is diminished by that much. Institutions, as we know them, are designed to limit liability for those who serve through them. (2002, p. 52)

Magis Leadership: Toward An Active Ontology Of The Heart Through Appreciative Inquiry And Servant-Leadership, Karen Norum

International Journal of Servant-Leadership

There are many emerging models of leadership. Transactional, transformational, command and control, facilitative, situational, contingency, charismatic, servant, relational, strengths-based, values-based, and principled are but a few of them. Many of these models focus on the person who is the leader: the one who is in charge, whom others follow, who holds a certain position in a hierarchy, or who has some sort of influence. The models tend to outline characteristics, behaviors, and attributes of leaders with the focus on individualistic and positional aspects of leadership (Heifetz, 1994; Schall, Ospina, Godsoe, & Dodge, 2004). While this is useful, the focus on …

Exercise Behavior Among Women Post-Myocardial Infarction: Applying The Transtheoretical Model Of Behavior Change, Janet K. Dombroski

Open Access Dissertations

Exercise adherence among women post-myocardial infarction (MI) is a major health issue. The lack of exercise adherence prevents women from attaining the multiple benefits of exercise and exacerbates cardiovascular disease. Factors identified as determining adherence to therapeutic regimen for women post-MI include personal factors, interpersonal factors, and environmental factors. A descriptive survey design utilizing the Transtheoretical Model of Behavior Change (TTM) (Prochaska & DiClemente, 1982) was used to investigate the relationships among stage of change for exercise behavior, processes of change, decisional balance (pros and cons), and self-efficacy for exercise in women post-MI. The following research questions were addressed: (a) …

Multicultural Education In The Mental Health Professions: A Meta-Analytic Review, Timothy B. Smith, Madonna G. Constantine, Todd W. Dunn, Jared M. Dinehart, Jared A. Montoya

Faculty Publications

The American Psychological Association and many other professional mental health organizations require graduate programs to provide education in multicultural issues. However, the effectiveness of multicultural education has been debated in the literature over the past several years. The overall purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of multicultural education using meta-analytic methodologies. Findings revealed that multicultural education interventions were typically associated with positive outcomes across a wide variety of participant and study characteristics. Multicultural education interventions that were explicitly based on theory and research yielded outcomes nearly twice as beneficial as those that were not. Priorities for future …

Ethical Issues In Conducting Forensic Evaluations, Karen C. Kalmbach, Phillip M. Lyons

Psychology Faculty Publications (Archived)

The role of the forensic mental health professional (MHP) often differs substantially from that of the typical clinician. These differences bear directly on the ethical delivery of services.

A Mixed-Methods And Multi-Level Investigation Of The Effects Of A Crew Chief Intervention On Job Attitudes, Occupational Stress, And Organizational Commitment, Michael Charles Leo

Dissertations and Theses

High-profile instances of workplace violence and increased pressure from competitors have threatened the viability of one of the nation's largest employers, the United States Postal Service (USPS). As a result, the USPS began a massive change effort in the early 1990's. One of the initiatives implemented to improve labor-management relations was a derivative of the self-managed work team known as the crew chief program. This study provides a mixed-methods and multi-level approach to understand the impact this unique program had on organizational attitudes.

The first aim of this study was to investigate whether the crew chief program reduced employees' stress …

Design And Implementation Of Preparation Strategies For Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System Stakeholders, Judith Josephs

Theses and Dissertations

This applied dissertation was designed to provide better access to current preparation strategies for passing the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) test. The test preparation strategies did not meet the needs of the students. The students did not know how to use the computer to study for the test and did not know how to study at home for the test. Teachers also did not know of the availability of electronic information to enrich their lessons and increase the achievement of vocational high school students.

The researcher developed strategies to train students and teachers on Bridges Transitions (1999) testGEAR and …

Implementing School-Wide Positive Behavior Support: Exploring The Influence Of Socio-Cultural, Academic, Behavioral, And Implementation Process Variables, Rachel Mara Cohen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study evaluated the influence of academic, behavioral, and sociocultural variables on the implementation of Schoolwide Positive Behavior Support (SWPBS), a system intended to improve discipline in school buildings. The number of schools that are implementing SWPBS has been increasing dramatically over the years as school violence continues to rise and solutions are needed to improve school climate. This study examined the relationship between three categories of variables and the level of implementation of SWPBS in three multiple regression analyses. The categories were school demographic variables (i.e., ethnicity, socio-economic status, teacher: student ratio, percentage of teachers who are out-of-field), severity …

What Is Required To Optimise Professional Development Opportunities For Academic Staff In A Specific College In The Further Education Sector?, Anne O'Donohue

Theses

The main aim of this research was to identify what was required to optimise professional development for the academic staff of Liberties College, a college in the further education sector. This research was a case study, focusing on the micro, one case on one site, with the emphasis on understanding the unity and the wholeness of this particular case. The theoretical perspective applied therefore, was constructionist and the research methods interpretive in design.

The research design was mainly qualitative though there was also a quantitative element in part of the questionnaire which was followed up by semi-structured interviews. The relevant …

The Obstacles In Women's Pathway To Principalship, Mahshid Pirouznia

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The research problem is to investigate the obstacles of women seeking the principalship in public education; and also to explore major changes of different obstacles to women's principalship because women's roles have changed over time. Different obstacles in women's pathway to principalship are: low self-image; lack of encouragement; myths about women's work; sex stereotyping; lack of aspiration; role conflict; low self-esteem; family responsibilities; lack of mobility; and hiring and promoting practices. The research questions are: 1. what are the barriers for women who did not obtain a principalship or assistant principalship. 2. what are the barriers for women who obtained …

The Paradox Of Corruption As Antithesis To Economic Development: Does Corruption Undermine Economic Development In Indonesia And China, And Why Are The Experiences Different In Each Country?, Andrew White

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The question of whether corruption is antithetical to economic development has been extensively researched and debated since the 1960s. While nearly all participants in the debate appear to agree that corruption ultimately is antithetical to long-term economic development, the extent to which it positively or negatively affects economic development in the short term depends upon highly contextual factors. In different countries and regions of the world, factors of local culture and history, the nature of the state, the type of corruption and actors involved, and the political responses and motivations to curtail corruption all inform the answer to this question. …

The Sustainment Of Early Childhood Teachers In The Classroom, Pamela A. Kilgallon

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The changing nature of teaching has led to an increased focus on the retention and productive engagement of teachers in the classrooms. The ongoing implementation of educational change, accompanied by an ageing trend amongst teachers and rising incidences of teacher attrition, stress and burnout, highlights the importance of teachers being sustained in their profession. Furthermore, recognition of the value of early childhood education has drawn attention to early childhood teachers' abilities to be sustained in their teaching practice, effectively engaging students in the learning process. Acknowledging these issues, this study examined factors that influence early childhood classroom teachers' sustainment in …

Whose Story Is It Anyway?: An Explanation Of How `Academic Literacy' Was Constructed In A University Transition Course For Indigenous Australians During A Period Of Organisational Change, Gregory J. Stratton

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This thesis examines how a group of lecturers who taught in a university preparation course designed for Indigenous Australians thought about what `academic literacy' meant. Lecturers were asked to consider the relationships between the meanings of `academic literacy' , curriculum, and the considerable problems the Course was facing in order to remain viable. My research goal was to better understand what alignment of people, ideas, and other important entities would be required to develop a sustainable program for Indigenous people seeking an alternative pathway into university degrees.