8,022 research outputs found

    UMSL Bulletin 2023-2024

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    The 2023-2024 Bulletin and Course Catalog for the University of Missouri St. Louis.https://irl.umsl.edu/bulletin/1088/thumbnail.jp

    Graduate Catalog of Studies, 2023-2024

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    The Influence of Teacher Absenteeism on Student Achievement in Grades 3-5 in Rural Public Schools in New Jersey

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    Abstract The purpose of this correlational, explanatory, cross-sectional quantitative research was to determine whether teacher absenteeism and student achievement are related in rural schools. This correlational study examines the predictor variable of teacher absenteeism on academic outcomes and also is inclusive of control variables teacher mobility, teacher experience, teacher level of education, students classified as special education, English language learners (ELL), chronic student absenteeism, and students eligible for free/reduced lunch. In the state of New Jersey, student achievement is measured by the New Jersey Student Learning Assessment (NJSLA). The NJSLA results for grades 3 through 5 in mathematics and English Language Arts were used as the main outcome variables for student achievement in this research. The variable of interest, teacher absenteeism, was found not to have a statistically significant relationship with the outcome variables grades 3-5 mathematics and English language arts. There were statistically significant relationships between students eligible for free/reduced lunch and student achievement in both English language arts and mathematics at all three grade levels. The variable of teacher level of education had a positive statistically significant relationship with student achievement in 5 of the models which were grades 3and 4 English language arts and just grade 4 mathematics

    Southern Adventist University Undergraduate Catalog 2022-2023

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    Southern Adventist University\u27s undergraduate catalog for the academic year 2022-2023.https://knowledge.e.southern.edu/undergrad_catalog/1121/thumbnail.jp

    Attracting and Sustaining Volunteers: Leadership Impact on the Recruitment and Retention of Volunteers in Nonprofit Organizations, and Differences Observed when Organizations are Predicated on Faith

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    The term “volunteer” has been formally acknowledged for more than 200 years (Dreyfus, 2018; Haski-Leventhal et al., 2018). It is synonymous with one who freely offers to participate in a task that benefits others. During the modern era, these tasks have included, but have not been limited to, establishing communal programs, presenting technical assistance, conducting conferences, fundraising, and supporting identified causes or groups (Alfes et al., 2017). In most instances, the tasks are rendered through nonprofit organizations. Therefore, volunteers represent invaluable assets as they are economic resources who contribute to accomplishing stated organizational goals (Tonurist & Surva, 2017). While more than 30% of the United States population was shown to have volunteered in 2018, this was, unfortunately, an aberration, as the previous 15 years had exhibited predominantly declining volunteer rates (Grimm & Dietz, 2018). The ability of nonprofit organizations to recruit and retain volunteers is critical to their respective missions and operations. Therefore, this qualitative research employed a multiple case study approach to examine whether there is a correlation between the leaders of these organizations and general retention data. Each of the three studies consisted of five participants who, through responses to questionnaires and interviews, shared firsthand experiences in relation to their volunteerism in nonprofit organizations. In addition to their direct experiences, they were asked to indicate if and how personal faith may have shaped their involvement in the organization(s). Findings derived from the participant responses indicate that leaders are one of the meaningful elements tied to the recruitment and retention of volunteers in nonprofit organizations. This effectuality of leaders is most vivid through their personality, their ability to embolden others, the type of relationship maintained with volunteers, and the various tactics utilized. Additionally, while individual volunteers may be devout regarding their personal spirituality, they are frequently unable to differentiate between the operations of organizations that are and are not predicated on faith. Hence, faith has limited influence on their viewpoint of the leader or the organization they’ve selected to provide service

    Economic and Social Consequences of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Energy Sector

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    The purpose of the Special Issue was to collect the results of research and experience on the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic for the energy sector and the energy market, broadly understood, that were visible after a year. In particular, the impact of COVID-19 on the energy sector in the EU, including Poland, and the US was examined. The topics concerned various issues, e.g., the situation of energy companies, including those listed on the stock exchange, mining companies, and those dealing with renewable energy. The topics related to the development of electromobility, managerial competences, energy expenditure of local government units, sustainable development of energy, and energy poverty during a pandemic were also discussed

    Improving approaches to material inventory management in construction industry in the UK

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    Materials used in construction constitute a major proportion of the total cost of construction projects. An important factor of great concern that adversely affects construction projects is the location and tracking of materials, which normally come in bulk with minimal identification. There is inadequate integration of modern wireless technologies (such as Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) or Just-in-Time (JIT)) into project management systems for easier and faster materials management and tracking and to overcome human error. This research focuses on improving approaches to material inventory management in the UK construction industry through the formulation of RFID-based materials management tracking process system with projects. Existing literature review identified many challenges/problems in material inventory management on construction projects, such as supply delays, shortages, price fluctuations, wastage and damage, and insufficient storage space. Six construction projects were selected as exploratory case studies and cross-case analysis was used to investigate approaches to material inventory management practices: problems, implementation of ICT, and the potential for using emerging wireless technologies and systems (such as RFID and PDA) for materials tracking. Findings showed that there were similar problems of storage constraints and logistics with most of the construction projects. The synthesis of good practices required the implementation of RFID-facilitated construction management of materials tracking system to make material handling easier, quicker, more efficient and less paperwork. There was also a recommendation to implement Information and Communication Technology (ICT) tools to integrate plant, labour and materials into one system. The findings from the cases studies and the literature review were used to formulate a process for real-time material tracking using Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) that can improve material inventory management in the UK construction industry. Testing and validation undertaken assisted in formulating a process that can be useful, functional and acceptable for a possible process system’s development. Finally, research achievements/contributions to knowledge, and limitations were discussed and some suggestions for further research were outlined

    The Contribution of Environmental Science to Mental Health Research: A Scoping Review

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    Mental health is influenced by multiple complex and interacting genetic, psychological, social, and environmental factors. As such, developing state-of-the-art mental health knowledge requires collaboration across academic disciplines, including environmental science. To assess the current contribution of environmental science to this field, a scoping review of the literature on environmental influences on mental health (including conditions of cognitive development and decline) was conducted. The review protocol was developed in consultation with experts working across mental health and environmental science. The scoping review included 202 English-language papers, published between 2010 and 2020 (prior to the COVID-19 pandemic), on environmental themes that had not already been the subject of recent systematic reviews; 26 reviews on climate change, flooding, air pollution, and urban green space were additionally considered. Studies largely focused on populations in the USA, China, or Europe and involved limited environmental science input. Environmental science research methods are primarily focused on quantitative approaches utilising secondary datasets or field data. Mental health measurement was dominated by the use of self-report psychometric scales. Measures of environmental states or exposures were often lacking in specificity (e.g., limited to the presence or absence of an environmental state). Based on the scoping review findings and our synthesis of the recent reviews, a research agenda for environmental science’s future contribution to mental health scholarship is set out. This includes recommendations to expand the geographical scope and broaden the representation of different environmental science areas, improve measurement of environmental exposure, prioritise experimental and longitudinal research designs, and giving greater consideration to variation between and within communities and the mediating pathways by which environment influences mental health. There is also considerable opportunity to increase interdisciplinarity within the field via the integration of conceptual models, the inclusion of mixed methods and qualitative approaches, as well as further consideration of the socio-political context and the environmental states that can help support good mental health. The findings were used to propose a conceptual model to parse contributions and connections between environmental science and mental health to inform future studies

    Accounting in action in the New Zealand health reform process: an analysis informed by a specific case study of a major health provider

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    This thesis constitutes an empirical study of accounting in action, focussing attention on patient based cost systems. The thesis contributes an in depth understanding of the mobilisation of casemix and related information systems at a large regional hospital, Health Waikato (HW), in the centre of the North Island of New Zealand. The field research consisted of primarily unstructured and semi-structured interviews and documentary analysis. I present the research in the later part of the thesis from a constructionist, interpretive perspective. This consists of richly descriptive case studies of aspects of the change process as it has impacted upon the research site. The themes of the analysis are related, at the macro level, to the resurrection of neoclassical economics policies and the relative ascendancy of free market solutions. The process through which areas of knowledge and in this case particularly public policy become problematised is explicated. My research attempts to describe the experiences and perceptions of medical and managerial\financial staff at a work unit level within a single hospital. A part of this process has involved investigation of the implementation of traditional accounting technologies in unfamiliar environments. The research is primarily concerned to elaborate upon the social context of accounting systems implementation using theoretical insights derived from Latour (particularly: 1987, 1993). The research has sought to explicate the change process as a process of translation. Traditional accounting techniques have been explicated as “black box” technology with which the organisation has been redefined in economic terms. In the study, the power of accounting in the translation and inscription of data (the fabrication of accounting systems per Preston et al, 1992), is central to understanding the role of accounting systems as technology. Drawing from the work of Latour helps to provide a frame of reference to allow an assimilation of disparate changes and influences as they have come to affect the health sector at a national level, within New Zealand, and also at an organisational level, within a large regional health provider. The research contributes in explicating the relevance of Latour’s rules of method, and underlying theoretical framework for an organisational analysis focusing upon accounting. Latour uses a very general conception of technology which encompasses anything emerging from what he terms the process of “translation”. In this context Latour uses the term to refer to the production or “fabrication” of “quasi-objects”. This is most easily seen as consisting of the physical objects which “populate our western societies”, but for Latour also includes inscriptions and “facts/artefacts”. I regard accounting and information systems as consisting of mixtures (or perhaps “collectives”) of technological quasi-objects in this very general sense. The focus of the research has been upon the identification of problems, the choice of accounting techniques and their implementation. Together with other devices the use of accounting techniques may be seen as a central part of the process through which change is made acceptable within the organisation. Supporters are enrolled into the change process in part by being exposed to the accounting inscriptions which are used to represent the cost and profit “reality” of their unit and the whole organisation. The research process has involved detailed investigation on a case by case basis to enable a thorough description of the accounting techniques being put in place. The title of the thesis is based on Latour (1987) "Science in Action". Conventions developed in Actor Network Theory might suggest my title would be better understood as "Accounting as Actant" but it seems to me that Latour was clearly aware of this same point when he chose this title for his book

    Sharing Design Knowledge Through Codification in Interdisciplinary DSR Collaborations

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    The goals of design science research (DSR) projects are to generate novel and useful artifacts and to produce rigorous and generalizable design knowledge. Often, DSR projects are conducted in collaborative, interdisciplinary project teams. Different disciplinary approaches to codifying design knowledge result in challenging project interactions. To study this situation, we analyze design knowledge codification in interdisciplinary teams over time. We gain insights from a survey of recent DSR papers that have been published in the AIS Senior Scholars’ Basket. We then present a detailed case study of a longitudinal project that brought to light issues of sharing design knowledge across disciplinary borders. Drawing from the survey and case study, we provide actionable guidance on how to effectively codify and share design knowledge to support researchers and practitioners to build useful artifacts and to make interdisciplinary design knowledge contributions reusable and applicable
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