Digital Commons Network^™

Educational Salvation: Integrating Critical Spirituality In Educational Leadership, Carlos R. Mccray, Floyd D. Beachum, Christopher Yawn

Journal of Catholic Education

Improving education for students in K-12 urban settings remains a slow-paced and difficult task, with many successes in student learning being episodic at best. Disconnect between government mandates to improve schools and persistent societal issues of poverty and inequity act to increase stress on teachers and educational leaders working in urban schools. Drawing upon the strengths of the African-American community and its collective historical experiences, this study explores creative ways to integrate spirituality in the education of students in urban schools. The authors begin by addressing the contextual and structural issues facing urban schools. They then explain the benefits of …

Bjc Today

BJC Today

No abstract provided.

Using Reflective Practice To Study School Leadership, Cheryl Smith

Theses and Dissertations

The purposes of this investigation were to critically examine my principal leadership and to use reflective practice to improve my leadership practice and create positive change in the practices of teachers in the school. While scrutinizing critical incidents of practice, I utilized four reflective practice cycles to develop new action theories and new paradigms of leadership behavior. Reflective practice Cycle I focused on me as an individual. Revisiting who I was conceptually opened reflection about my identity, prompting me to think differently about my leadership. My partnering with another principal consisted of reflective practice Cycle II. Our emphasis was on …

Development Of Scn Connectivity And The Circadian Control Of Arousal: A Diminishing Role For Humoral Factors?, Andrew J. Gall, William D. Todd, Mark S. Blumberg

Faculty Publications

The suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) is part of a wake-promoting circuit comprising the dorsomedial hypothalamus (DMH) and locus coeruleus (LC). Although widely considered a "master clock," the SCN of adult rats is also sensitive to feedback regarding an animal's behavioral state. Interestingly, in rats at postnatal day (P)2, repeated arousing stimulation does not increase neural activation in the SCN, despite doing so in the LC and DMH. Here we show that, by P8, the SCN is activated by arousing stimulation and that selective destruction of LC terminals with DSP-4 blocks this activational effect. We next show that bidirectional projections among the …

Individual Resistance To Change, Jeffrey C. Sandusky

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines individual resistance to change and concludes that it is a constantly evolving process with many contributing factors. Defining resistance to change is a challenge within its own right. To account for the actions involved in change resistance is an even more complex undertaking. In this research, resistance to change is examined and explained using the influences of goals, participation, leadership effectiveness, and communication. These factors are expressed as the composition of what makes an individual resist or accept a change. Each of the four elements of resistance to change are examined independently and then synthesized into a …

Supporting Excellence In Long-Term Care With Student Ebp Projects, Suzanne Beltz, Loree Dubose

International Nursing Research Congress (INRC)

With any clinical experience, nursing students learning in the long-term care setting pose questions regarding specific practices by the health care provider(s). This curiosity of comparing what they are learning in the classroom with what they see in the clinical setting can provide learning opportunities and opportunities for best-practice dissemination to care givers in long-term care. The Institute of Medicine identified employing evidence-based practice as a core competency for providing quality and safe patient care (Finkleman & Kenner, 2009). This practice has more prongs than research alone; it includes client values and preferences; client history and assessment data; clinical expertise; …

Staff Nurse Perceptions Of The Magnet Journey: Implications For Nurse Leaders, Laurie Ecoff, Linda Diann Urden

International Nursing Research Congress (INRC)

Purpose: The purpose of this qualitative study'was to develop a broader understanding of organizational changes that occur during the time leading up to the American Nurses Credentialing Center's Magnet designation. The specific aims of this study were to compile a rich description of the phenomenon 'Magnet Journey' in a group of registered nurses in clinical settings who provide direct patient care with regards to: the factors that influence quality of care the factors that influence cultural transformation the factors that influence interdisciplinary collaboration Methods: Focus groups were conducted at recently designated Magnet hospitals in Southern California. Participants were consented, asked …

The Role Of School Psychologists Regarding The Implementation Of The Anti-Bullying Bill Of Rights Act, John Kowalcyk

Theses and Dissertations

Current school psychologists in New Jersey were contacted in order to determine the attitudes, roles, and approaches of different school psychologists in relation to the new HIB (Harassment, Intimidation, and Bullying) legislation for all New Jersey Public Schools. This study gauged school psychologists' level of involvement in implementing the new legislation and their overall roles with regard to maintaining a safe and positive school climate. The survey, which was sent via email to school psychologists across the state, asked questions about their perceived roles in schools, the time they spent on various obligations during the workday, their involvement with the …

Social Sciences Course Proposals 09-05-2012, Curriculum Committee

Curriculum Committee Reports

No abstract provided.

Leveraging The Dialectical Theory In Case Study Analysis: Genzyme's Ethical Dilemma, Andrei Duta

The Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law

This paper provides the theoretical framework for a case study that I share with students in my courses. The dialectical theory is used to analyze ethical conundrums pertaining to Genzyme, a successful bio-tech corporation based in Boston, Massachusetts that manufactures treatments for serious diseases such as kidney problems, immune diseases, and cancer. We discuss questions such as: is Genzyme acting unethically when averaging extremely high profit margins on drugs for rare diseases? Is the company taking advantage of the lack of pharmaceutical choices that patients have when addressing their ailments? The dialectical theory provides the framework and vocabulary for discussing, …

Evidence Matters (September 2012), Center For Evidence-Based Practices

Evidence Matters

Newsletter of the Center for Evidence-Based Practices at Case Western Reserve University

Ntid Focus Fall 2012, Ntid Marketing And Communications

National Technical Institute for the Deaf Papers

No abstract provided.

Murray Ledger And Times, September 1, 2012, Murray Ledger And Times

The Murray Ledger & Times

No abstract provided.

Communicating Analytic Results: A Tutorial For Decision Consultants, Jeffrey Keisler, Patrick Noonan

Management Science and Information Systems Faculty Publication Series

Good analysis alone may not achieve the goals of decision analysis (DA) engagements. Good communication of the results of that analysis can help stakeholders understand, accept, and implement the recommended course of action. Practitioners can use decision analytic principles when considering the decision of how to communicate results themselves. From this perspective, we consider a range of questions to ask in preparing for communication with the client and other stakeholders. We review standard communication practices in DA engagements. The standard practice can be improved by drawing on insights from other areas of management practice. Decision analysis has both technical and …

Appreciative Inquiry: A Transformative Approach For Initiating Shared Leadership And Organizational Learning, Mary M. Somerville, Marical Farner

University Libraries Librarian and Staff Articles and Papers

Auraria Library leaders at the University of Colorado Denver, USA employed Appreciative Inquiry (AI) principles, processes, and practices to inclusively redesign organizational structure, social relationships, knowledge systems, and workplace aspirations. Throughout the four year period, from 2008 through 2012,intervention activities employed life generating properties which were appreciative,applicable, provocative, and collaborative. Iterative application of the 4- Cycle intervention model (discovery, dream, design, and destiny) and associated AI principles advanced shared leadership and organizational learning capacities within a revitalized workplace culture. Iterative processes of reflection, reframing, and reinterpretation now sustain ongoing and inclusive inquiry that is appreciative,applicable, provocative, and collaborative.

Increasing Community Participation With Self-Organizing Meeting Processes, Philip H. Howard

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

Involving many people in community-based research provides many benefits, such as more labor power and increased buy-in. Traditional meeting formats, however, are not well suited to attracting broad engagement. One way to address this challenge is to instead employ self-organizing meeting processes, which are designed to invite active participation from attendees, and do not predefine the agenda. This article describes three such processes, 1) Open Space Technology, 2) World Café, and 3) Dynamic Facilitation, followed by my observations on their advantages and disadvantages when employed in community-based research efforts. Their use requires giving up a great amount of control when …

Design And Implementation Of Erp Software In Material Supply Chain Management For Siix Corp., Xing'er Chen

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Cal Poly Appoints New Journalism Department Chair, Public Affairs Office

Press Releases

No abstract provided.

Getting To Go: Strategic Use Of External Expertise In Leveraging Change, Alison Nussbaumer, Wendy Merkley, Brenda Mathenia

Charleston Library Conference

No abstract provided.

Mph Principles Of Public Health: Fall 2012 Syllabus, Nina Wallerstein, Robert Rhyne, Jonathan Eldredge

Principles of Public Health 2010-2017

No abstract provided.

A Comparison Of Lmx, Communication, And Demographic Differences In Remote And Co-Located Supervisor-Subordinate Dyads, Larisa Niedle

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

The objectives of this research were to examine the growing organizational trends of distributed work, reliance on various media for communication, and increased diversity in the workforce. Napier and Ferris' (1993) theory of distance, which includes structural, functional, and psychological distance, served as a framework for much of this research. Leader-Member Exchange theory (LMX), which Napier and Ferris (1993) translated into the functional distance component of their theory, was used to inform hypotheses on supervisor-subordinate relationships and performance ratings. Communication theories of media richness and social presence were used as a basis for the hypotheses involving communication. Finally, the similarity-attraction …

Evaluation Of The Clinical Integration Model For Hospital Care Delivery, Cheryl Mckay

Nursing Theses and Dissertations

Purpose: Two studies were used to evaluate whether introduction of the Clinical Integration Model (CIM) would decrease cost, length of stay (LOS), and mortality in two populations: a psychiatric in-patient population and congestive heart failure (CHF) patients. Objectives: 1. Evaluate reliability and validity of a process tool, the CareGraph, essential in the CIM. 2. Determine if there is a difference for LOS and cost between patients receiving care in the CIM and those receiving care in a traditional primary care delivery model in a psychiatric population; compare the same parameters as well as survival in the CHF population. Methods: Reliability …

An Investigation Of Employee Engagement And Business Outcomes At An Engineering Services Firm, Preetinder Singh Gill

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This research study investigated the constructs and dimensions of employee engagement and their relationship with business outcome data from 2009 to 2011 at a mid-sized engineering services firm and two of its business units. Employee engagement ratios, as defined by Crabtree (2004), for all entities studied were below that associated with world-class organizations. Survey items related to salary and compensation received low scores from both engaged and disengaged employees. Kruskal-Wallis’s median comparison tests revealed that many survey items varied over the period of three years for each entity studied. A factor analysis of companywide survey data yielded 5 dimensions of …

Instructional Coaching: Teachers‘ Perceptions Of Practice And Effectiveness, Jason Brock Horne

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this quantitative study was to investigate K-12 teachers' perceptions of instructional coaching. Specifically, this researcher assessed the perception of instructional coaching as a whole, support for hiring practices for instructional coaches, the value of instructional coaching for improving teaching practices, the value of instructional coaching for improving student achievement, and the perception of instructional coaches being in supervisory role. Participants in this study were located in three different school systems in Northeast Tennessee. All data were collected through an online survey distributed to 848 teachers resulting in a 62% return rate with 536 participant responses. Research reinforced …

“The Road Not Taken” – Israeli Teachers’ Reactions To Top-Down Educational Reform, Roxana G. Reichman, Shlomit Artzi

The Qualitative Report

The authors have investigated teachers’ reactions towards an imposed reform initiated by the Israeli Ministry of Education in collaboration with one of two teachers’ unions based on the messages and letters sent by high school teachers to an internet forum during a teachers’ strike which took place between October and December of 2007. This study is the result of collaborative work between a teacher educator and a veteran teacher studying towards her Master of Education degree in Learning and Instruction. The research question was: What were the teachers’ attitudes regarding the “New Horizon” reform as conveyed on an internet forum …

Can Curriculum Changes Improve The Deliverables The Business Studies Departments Of Maine’S Community Colleges Provide Its Stakeholders?, Jack Buckley Ma

All Student Scholarship

Recent seminars and meetings between state officials and business leaders have established that a perceived disconnect exists between the skill's, knowledge, and abilities needed by their enterprises and the skill's, knowledge, and abilities being taught by the state’s educational systems. The Maine Community College System's vision states that the system answers to a number of stakeholders by providing a two year comprehensive, affordable, and accessible college education..." dedicated to building a quality workforce for Maine” (Maine Community College, n.d.). While the MCCS is a relatively new institution, this suggests that the community college arena is the most logical starting place …

Bridging The Gap: An Exploratory Study Of Corporate Social Responsibility Among Smes In Singapore, Mui Hean Lee, Angela Ka Mak, A. Pang

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) among small-medium enterprises (SME) is an overlookedarea, despite the latter’s emerging prominence as an economic player. To provide a comprehensiveanalysis of the CSR landscape among Singapore SMEs, a triangulation of 15 in-depth interviews anda self-administered Web survey was conducted among 113 senior executives from top 500 SingaporeSMEs (27.2% response). Key findings include (a) moderate awareness but low comprehension ofCSR; (b) engagement relevance to immediate stakeholders; (c) individual values, stakeholderrelationships, and governmental influences as main drivers; and (d) lack of various resources askey barriers. Implications and future research directions are discussed.

Exploring The International Union For The Conservation Of Nature (Iucn's) National Program Development In Biodiversity Conservation: A Comparative Study Of India, Pakistan, Nepal, And Bangladesh, Medani Prasad Bhandari

Sociology - Dissertations

This dissertation investigates IUCN's role in global biodiversity conservation policy as well as in national program development in India, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh. It explores how nature protection priorities and approaches are promoted or addressed by IUCN, an international organization, and how environment conservation policies are created and maintained in states with different capacities of South Asia. This study is the first detailed scholarly study on the IUCN as an organization as well as on its efforts in biodiversity conservation.

This research adds to our knowledge firstly by contributing to a small but growing body of work on the sociology …

Examining Collegiality And Social Justice In Academia And The Private Sector: An Exploratory Symlog Analysis, D. L. Ford, George L. Whaley

Faculty Publications, School of Management

This research compares the perceptions of the private sector, high-technology employees to the perceptions of university faculty members regarding organizational culture, social justice and collegiality concepts. The SYMLOG assessment technique was used to record the perceptions of respondents to four different concepts of organizational culture, two different aspects of social justice and two measures of collegiality. Comparative findings of gender differences across the eight concepts raise key organizational culture, legal, measurement, governance, and social policy issues for academia and high tech organizations. The development of a conceptual framework to guide future research and a blueprint to discuss desired organizational change …

Improving Outcomes Of Acute Coronary Syndrome Patients Through Disease Specific Care Certification, Terri Ginn Lemon

Doctoral Projects

Cardiovascular disease remains the number one killer of Americans, accounting for over 800,000 deaths in 2008. Improving a hospital’s performance by obtaining and maintaining The Joint Commission Disease-Specific Care Certification is one method of impacting acute coronary syndrome patient outcomes. The purpose of this capstone project was to provide consultation services to ready the cardiology division of a large community hospital in south Mississippi for the process of obtaining Joint Commission Disease-Specific Care Certification in the area of acute coronary syndrome. The activities of the consultation included facilitating an examination of the current organization of ACS patient care; reviewing core …