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Anterior-Posterior And Medial-Lateral Control Of Sway In Infants During Sitting Acquisition Does Not Become Adult-Like, Fabien Cignetti, Anastasia Kyvelidou, Regina T. Harbourne, Nikolaos Stergiou

Journal Articles

We examined (1) how sitting postural control in infants develops in the anterior–posterior (A/P) and medial–lateral (M/L) directions of sway, and (2) whether this control is already adult-like during the late phase of infant's sitting acquisition. COP data were acquired from 14 healthy infants (from the onset of sitting until independent sitting) and 21 healthy adults while sitting on a force platform. Attractor dimensionality (CoD: correlation dimension), attractor predictability (LyE: largest Lyapunov exponent), and sway variability (RMS: root-mean square) were calculated from the COP data to evaluate postural control. In the A/P direction, sitting was mastered by the infants by …

Examining The Impact Of The Cultivation Of Presence On Autonomy, Hai Wright

Theses and Dissertations

Paradoxes, such as the co-existence of stability and continual change, are characteristic of a complex organization. The ability to adapt to change is a vital trait that leaders must acquire to embrace and integrate organizational paradoxes. The autonomous person is one who is best able to adapt to change. The cultivation of presence (CP) is an approach to developing autonomy that holds great promise in facilitating change. The central purpose of this research was to determine if CP was positively related to the fulfillment of the basic psychological need for autonomy. The study involved 14 alumni from graduate degree programs …

Including People With Disabilities In Disaster Preparedness: A Delphi Study, Michael Anthony Castañeda

Theses and Dissertations

Recent disasters demonstrate that the needs of people with disabilities are not being met when disaster strikes. At the root of the problem is a widespread failure to include people with disabilities in preparing for emergencies before they occur. This study used a 2-round Delphi methodology with a panel of experts, consisting of people with disabilities and key players in emergency planning and response. The study instrument consisted of questionnaires containing items presented in Likert, yes-no, and open-ended formats. The goal of the study was to reach consensus on a way for people with disabilities and emergency planners to address …

Comparing The Emotional Intelligence, Personal Traits, And Work Impacts Of Performing Versus High-Performing Middle Managers, Teresa Lara

Theses and Dissertations

The study of emotional intelligence (EI) has grown in popularity over recent decades. Some authors have argued that EI results in heightened personal and professional success. Middle managers, in particular, are believed to require EI, as they are tasked with linking and coordinating the strategic and operational levels of the organization. Having EI is believed to help middle managers develop relationships; influence others and garner their support; create harmony among stakeholders; and communicate, collaborate with, and lead others. All of these activities require understanding and managing others, their needs, and their emotions--in short, all of these activities require EI. However, …

A Qualitative Program Evaluation Of A Structured Leadership Mentoring Program At A Large Aerospace Corporation, Romney P. Teller

Theses and Dissertations

The researcher utilized a qualitative approach to conduct a program evaluation of the organization where he is employed. The study intended to serve as a program evaluation for the structured in-house mentoring program at a large aerospace corporation (A-Corp). This program evaluation clarified areas in which the current mentoring program is lacking and could be improved to align with best practices for mentoring that have been identified in the research literature. As a participant observer, the researcher used telephone focus groups as the main data source. A secondary data source included documents such as the training manual and intranet descriptions …

Successful Change Strategies For A Major Research And Consulting Company, Islam Ahmad Azzam

Theses and Dissertations

This case study describes a major change initiative undertaken by a major consulting-contracting agency, 3 Tier Research and Development, Inc., engaged in market branding, research, and development in the United States. Focusing on one client account, Go-Green Auto Corp, the study scrutinizes relevant organizational theories as they apply to real-time organizational leadership and change-management strategy scenarios. Members of the studied organization from one office in Southern California, predisposed by their own mind-sets and training in the organization's mission statement and policies and procedures of operation, voluntarily participated in field research that included questionnaires and interviews by the researcher. The goal …

Religious And Spiritual Beliefs, Practices, Professional Attitudes And Behaviors Of Clinical And Counseling Psychology Interns, Jeanette Francis

Theses and Dissertations

It is important for clinicians to address religious and spiritual matters in their psychological treatment. Personal religious and spiritual beliefs can have a significant impact on the consideration of religious and spiritual issues in psychotherapy. The religious and spiritual views of clinicians form as a function of general development and may be influenced by graduate education and training. The current study sought to determine the religious and spiritual attitudes, beliefs, and practices of doctoral students in clinical and counseling psychology, their views on religious and spiritual clinical interventions, and the effect of graduate education and training on both of these …

Significant Traits, Characteristics, And Qualities Of High Effective United Methodist Church Clergy, Grant John Hagiya

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation attempts to identify the key traits, characteristics, and qualities of high effective United Methodist Church clergy. The experimental study employed a mixed methods design, with a quantitative component that compared high effective and low effective clergy on the dimensions of their Emotional Intelligence using the BarOn Assessment, leadership qualities using the Leadership Practices Inventory, church size and vitality, and finally, self identification as to leadership abilities and ministry effectiveness. It also included a qualitative component in the form of in-depth interviews with high effective United Methodist Church clergy on their leadership traits, characteristics, and qualities. The dissertation's quantitative …

The Role Of Process Consultation And Appreciative Inquiry In The Coaching Model At Los Angeles Universal Preschool, Karel Kreshek

Theses and Dissertations

Enabling American students to race to the top through the education reform launched by the Obama Administration begins with attention to its youngest citizens. Studies have shown that high-quality early childhood education is associated with improved school achievement in later years. However, limitations in the reach and effectiveness of federal and state preschool programs have prompted the creation of nonprofit organizations dedicated to improving access to preschool for underserved children. One such organization is Los Angeles Universal Preschool (LAUP), whose design includes coaching for childcare providers to heighten the quality of their preschool programs. This study examined the use and …

The Internationalization Of Emerging Market Multinationals : Effects Of Host And Home Country Institutional Facotrs, Yuanyuan Zhang

Lingnan Theses

As we all know, economic globalization and internationalization have sparked off countless studies and arguments in the past years. Some of the conventional theories about the internationalization of firms, however, are repeatedly challenged when they are applied to the less developed countries. The internationalization of firms from less developed countries has been a topic of growing interest in the international business and economics literature. In our study, we consider the influence of institutions from both the host and home country on entry modes of Chinese firms expanding overseas. Based on a sample of 314 China’s MNCs, the results support our …

Preserving And Interpreting The Mining Company Office : Landscape, Space And Technological Change In The Management Of The Copper Industry, Renee M. Blackburn

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

The purpose of this research is to examine the role of the mining company office in the management of the copper industry in Michigan’s Keweenaw Peninsula between 1901 and 1946. Two of the largest and most influential companies were examined – the Calumet & Hecla Mining Company and the Quincy Mining Company. Both companies operated for more than forty years under general managers who were arguably the most influential people in the management of each company. James MacNaughton, general manager at Calumet and Hecla, worked from 1901 through 1941; Charles Lawton, general manager at Quincy Mining Company, worked from 1905 …

Empowerment Through Voice: A Case Study In The Leadership Of Restorative Justice, Kim Dalene Harding

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This qualitative case study identified shared leadership as a necessary component in the sustenance of restorative justice, a reform justice model used at Ada County Juvenile Court Services located in Boise, Idaho. Within each of its divisions, ACJCS utilizes this shared leadership model. At this court, leadership capacity was built though encouraging team members to take initiative and show innovation. Community capacity was built by the creation of networks with other private and county agencies, providing both leadership opportunities and community service hours for offending youth. Shared leadership sustains this reform justice model by allowing leaders to become followers and …

Digital Technology And The Variation In Design Routines: A Sequence Analysis Of Four Design Processes, James Gaskin, B. Veeresh Thummadi, Kalle Lyytinen, Youngjin Yoo

Faculty Publications

We advance a theory of design process variation across organizational types and the effects of digitalization on these processes. We argue that design routines are subject to greater variation within and between organizations as organizations embed increasingly rich repertoires of digital capabilities in their design activities. Using a sequence analysis method we compare design process variation in four organizations to examine how design routines vary due to differences in embedded digital capabilities and organization of the design process. Our analysis reveals new insights on the effects organizational context and digitalization have on design routine composition.

Apns And Program Planning: An Example Of A Primary Care Provider Educational Program On Tb In The Us Foreign Born, Allison Huffman

Nursing Doctoral

No abstract provided.

Colorful Dialogue: Talking Towards Civic Engagement, Kate Olson

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Noticing a need in the Mankato, Minnesota area to link new immigrants and refugees with the greater Mankato community, the YWCA Mankato started the Walking in Two Worlds program. The Colorful Dialogue, a part of the Walking in Two Worlds program, is a monthly community forum where long-time residents and newcomers, including immigrants and refugees, meet to discuss topics important for community building. The purpose of this research is to evaluate the program as a form of civic engagement. Two main questions shape the research: (1) Is the YWCA program, Colorful Dialogue an effective method of civic engagement? (2) Is …

Punctuated Equilibrium: A Model For Administrative Evolution, Mark C. Niles

Faculty Articles

The “public choice” model of the administrative state posits a federal regulatory structure that is dominated by the private entities subject to its policy proscriptions. The formidable advantages in resources and focus enjoyed by the these private entities leave governmental units, like agencies and legislatures, with little realistic chance to resist agency capture and avoid implementing the policy objectives of the parties whom they are charged with regulating.

As theoretically powerful and practically descriptive as this model is, there is one significant question for which it fails to provide a satisfying answer—why, if regulated entities enjoy a strangle-hold on the …

Female Drug Offenders Reflect On Their Experiences With A County Drug Court Program, James C. Roberts, Loreen Wolfer

The Qualitative Report

This paper examines the experiences of a group of female drug offenders who successfully completed a county drug court program in northeast Pennsylvania. Using the constant comparative method, we analyzed interviews with these women for thematic patterns in order to provide an evaluation of this program based on participants' subjective perceptions of its strengths and weaknesses. While other drug court evaluations identify rewards for good behavior and compassionate program staff as important contributing factors to participants' success, women in this study credited their recovery and successful completion of the program primarily to fear of punishment and program structure. Our analysis …

Barriers And Supports To Implementation Of Principal Leadership For School Change, Jodi M. Delucia

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Practices for supporting school change have not been implemented consistently in K-12 schools in the United States. Researchers have not studied the needs of K-12 principals who fail to implement these practices, and barriers or supports to implementation have not been identified. The purpose of this sequential explanatory mixed methodology study was to understand K-12 principals' perceptions of the supports and barriers related to their abilities to implement the practices of challenging the process, inspiring a shared vision, enabling others to act, modeling the way, and encouraging the heart. Seven public school principals and 29 teachers in their schools completed …

The District-Wide Sustainability Of A Professionallearning Community During Leadership Changes At The Superintendency Level, Jesus Abrego, Anita Pankake

Organization and School Leadership Faculty Publications

The purpose of this mixed methods follow-up single case study was two-fold: to determine if a school district was able to sustain a professional learning community (PLC) and to identify factors that enhanced, inhibited, or promoted the sustainability of a PLC from a district-wide perspective, with particular focus on how a change in leadership, i.e. a new superintendent, affected the sustainability of PLC attributes. In addition, the role of trust in influencing the sustainability of a professional learning community will be discussed in this paper.

A Descriptive Case Study Of The Perceptions And Use Of Adventist Edge : An Initiative Developed In Response To The North American Division Of Seventh-Day Adventists' Document, "Journey To Excellence", Pamela C. Forbes

Dissertations

Problem. The Southern Union started the Adventist EDGE initiative as an action plan in response to the North American Division's document, Journey to Excellence . The Adventist EDGE became a comprehensive educational reform initiative. However, there were different ideas on how the innovation should look when inaction in the schools, and these differences became obvious during the initial EDGE school validation visit, resulting in hurt feelings and confusion. Thus, the need for my study to clarify EDGE became critical for the survival of the initiative.

Purpose. The purpose of my study was to develop two operational definitions or …

Anchoring Change In Higher Education : Narratives From Senior Executives At Malcolm Baldrige Award-Winning Institutions, Cheryl H. Kisunzu

Dissertations

Purpose. The purpose of this study is to explore Kotter’s (1996) eighth stage for leading change. Specifically, it is to identify strategies for anchoring planned change in institutions of higher education.

Design. This is a qualitative multiple case study. Each of the participating organizations is an institution of higher education uniquely distinguished as a recipient of the United State’s highest recognition for progressive excellence—the Malcolm Baldrige Award. A narrative design is used to conduct in-depth exploration of leading planned change, specifically anchoring this planned change into the culture of academic institutions of higher learning. Purposeful sampling was used to identify …

The Myth Of Endless Accumulation: A Feminist Inquiry Into Globalization, Growth, And Social Change, Martha Freymann Miser

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This theoretical dissertation examines the concept of growth and its core assumption—that the continual accumulation of wealth is both socially wise and ecologically sustainable. The study challenges and offers alternatives to the myth of endless accumulation, suggesting new directions for leadership and social change. The central question posed in this inquiry: Can we craft a more ethical form of capitalism? To answer this question, the study examines conventional and critical globalization studies; feminist scholarship on standpoint, political economy, and power; and the Enlightenment notions of progress and modernism, drawing on a number of works, including Aristotle on the three intelligences, …

The Shift In Coaching Dynamics During Long-Term Business Coaching Relationships, Axel Meierhoefer

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

The focus of this dissertation was on the changes in long-term external business coaching relationships (defined as more than 4 months). The current study intended to answer two questions: (a) how does the relationship between a coach and a coachee change in long-term coaching engagements? and (b) how do these changes impact the coaching process dynamics and results? The phenomenon that was discovered through this research is called the shift moment. It exemplifies the transition from skill or problem oriented issues, which often represent the original cause of the coaching relationship, to the holistic transformation of the coachee. A qualitative …

Comparison Of Two Environmental Health Education Methods To Reduce Exposure To Residential Pesticides In Hispanic, Patricia M. Juarez-Carrillo

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

ABSTRACT

Exposure to pesticides is associated with adverse health outcomes including poisonings, short-term signs and symptoms, and long-term adverse health outcomes including developmental and cognitive impairments, certain types of cancer, and damages to the endocrine, nervous, and reproductive systems. This study tested two educational methods aimed to help Hispanic, Spanish-speaking mothers living in the U.S.-México border make informed decisions about pesticides applied in their homes. 230 women were randomly allocated to a) a small group talk, b) a graphic booklet, or c) a control group. The outcomes were the knowledge level about the risks of pesticides and the pest prevention …

Phronesis Through Praxis: Cultivating The Habit Of A Rhetorical Disposition In Positive Deviance Action Research, Lucia Dura

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Positive deviance is an asset-based, community-driven, problem-solving approach to social change premised on the idea that in every community there are certain individuals or groups whose uncommon behaviors and strategies enable them to find better solutions to problems than their peers, while having access to the same resources and facing similar or worse challenges (www.positivedeviance.org). Positive deviance has been used in over 40 countries to address issues as diverse as productivity in the workplace, infection and disease prevention, education, and child trafficking. This dissertation situates positive deviance within the areas of social change and change studies in the discipline of …

Exploring Organizational Culture And Leadership Styles In El Paso Nonprofit Organizations, Milena Murta

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This study focuses on two non-profit organizations in the El Paso region to document the communication processes by which they maintain their culture across their units. The study also explores leadership styles, both what are they and how they are employed in these organizations. This study involves three research methods, including: content analysis of organizational documents, interviews with leaders, and ethnographic observation. The findings of this study suggest that managing non-profit organizations is a challenge but yet rewarding duty. Moreover, managers explained that mission management is facilitated through four major ways: through documents, through the delivery of services, through training …

The Relationship Between Transformational Leadership And The Emotional And Social Competence Of The School Leader, David Saxe

Dissertations

Sustainable school reform efforts are needed to move schools closer toward the ideals of equity, justice and success for every student. The success or failure of a school and its students often hinges on the effectiveness of leadership. Research reveals that transformational school leaders become effective change agents by developing a shared vision for the school, building consensus around key priorities, holding high expectations, providing support, modeling appropriate values and building collaborative cultures and shared leadership. The purpose of this study is to examine the predictive relationship between the emotional and social competence and transformational leadership behaviors of school principals. …

Leadership Practices Of Science Department Chairs In Secondary Public Schools, Kathryn Marie Baal

Dissertations

This study was designed to explore the transformational leadership practices of science department chairs as perceived by both science department chairs and their principals as measured quantitatively by the third edition of the Leadership Practice Inventory (LPI) (Kouzes & Posner, 2007). In addition to transformational leadership, three other paradigms of leadership were essential to this study: transactional leadership, teacher leadership, and distributed leadership. Science department chairs are recognized as formal teacher leaders, primarily because their situational position makes them formal leaders; in addition science department chairs teach, to some degree, hence they are acknowledged as teacher leaders. The study further …

William G. Spady, Agent Of Change: An Oral History, John Anthony Hader

Dissertations

What series of circumstances, events, individuals, and factors have shaped and changed the life and career trajectory of William G. Spady, sociologist, educator, and agent of change? This dissertation provided many answers to this guiding research question. What made this dissertation unique was that the answers were provided by the subject himself during a series of interviews at his home in Colorado. This dissertation was an oral history of an important agent of change in the midst of his work.

Is Strategic Management (Still) Responsible For The Demise Of Society?, Nancy E. Landrum, Sandra Edwards

School of Environmental Sustainability: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Over fourteen years ago, Bill Richardson stated that modern strategic management is leading to the demise of society with its profit-maximization focus. Furthermore, there is criticism that strategic management research is lacking relevance for practitioners. In contrast to this criticism of academia, practitioners are increasingly engaged in sustainability-related activities and reporting and are moving beyond the historical focus on profits. This study examined trends in strategic management academic and practitioner publications since Richardson's claim. Since academicians are charged with educating future managers for the workforce, we sought to determine if academic strategic management research publications are reflecting the practitioner sustainability …