Franchise Entrepreneurial Leadership: The Relationship Between Levels of Success in a National Logistics Franchise System and Its Dominant Leadership Style

Entrepreneurs within the United States are plagued with high incidences of failure in the early years of business. What seems to be lacking in these organizations is leadership and the type of leadership style that leads to greater levels of success. This quantitative study answered the following research question: Is there a significant relationship between the various degrees of success of selected national franchises and the assessed leadership styles of their leaders? The leadership styles assessed were transformational and transactional. A random sample of 50 franchise leaders throughout the United States was selected and the data was collected from a Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (Mind Garden, Inc.) to determine if there was a significant difference between the two leadership styles. The relationship between the two leadership styles was tested using a T-test analysis at a .05 alpha level. The findings showed that there was a significant difference in styles, indicating that transformational leadership delivers greater levels of success at the franchisee level. The study validates the literature on the importance of leadership in large and small organizations and adds franchise entrepreneur leadership to the base of the research knowledge—data that is limited and has not been extensively researched to date. The dissertation study was structured to show that some franchising organizations have the latitude for entrepreneurship, and they are plagued with the same problems all small businesses face in the wake of competition and troubled economies. Understanding leadership at the franchisee level has its merit, and like many small and large companies, franchises need effective leadership at every level for success to exist and perpetuate

The Impact of Stress Levels on Ethicality for Employees

This research seeks to fill a gap in the occupational stress literature by making a tentative step toward examining the extent to which stress is related to ethicality. A sample of 370 business employees at companies of various sizes were surveyed. The survey included twenty-two questions, was both age and gender-balanced, and well represented the U.S. We have examined the role of perceived stress on employees in organizations to understand the extent to which they may be conducive or debilitating to ethical conduct. As hypothesized, we find that stress is negatively related to ethics. In addition, we find a non-linear relationship such that high levels of stress result in negative ethicality while lower levels result in comparatively less negative ethicality

Ethics and the Dampening Effects of Pressure: The Moderating Role of Employment Level, Tenure, and Company Size

This study examines the relationship between a spectrum of employment-related variables (i.e., employment level, tenure, and company size) and Ethicality. A sample of 370 business employees of varying tenure and employment levels at companies of various sizes were surveyed to fill an important gap in the behavioral ethics literature. The survey included twenty-two questions, was both age (18 to 100 years) and genderbalanced, and well represented the United States of America. We have examined the role of a pressurized environment on employees in organizations to understand the extent to which they may be conducive or debilitating to ethical conduct. As hypothesized, we find a non-linear relationship between employment factors and Ethicality and a dampening effect of pressure across these key relationships

Outcomes of Esophageal Dilation in Eosinophilic Esophagitis: Safety, Efficacy and Persistence of the Fibrostenotic Phenotype

Esophageal dilation is commonly performed in eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE), but there are few long-term data. The aims of this study were to assess the safety and long-term efficacy of esophageal dilation in a large cohort of EoE cases and determine the frequency and predictors of requiring multiple dilations

How do organizations respond to workplace deviance under the influence of organizational citizenship in public universities?

This paper explores the parallel roles in an organization as it relates to the level of commitment shown by its employees (citizens of the company) and their workplace deviance. The study goes a step deeper to show how this relationship is intertwined with the theory of social exchange. A total of 600 respondents consisted of lecturers and employees from the top five Malaysian public research universities, but only 189 were suitable for statistical analysis. Current research employs a deductive approach and uses nonprobability sampling. SEM-PLS is used to examine the research model and test the mediating effect of organizational citizenship behaviour on the relationship between organizational commitment and workplace deviance. The results reveal what is known to be true between healthy commitment and organizational citizenship as well as the dangers of workplace deviance on that relationship. Despite this positive relationship, workplace deviance does in fact modify organizational commitment in a negative manner. The study’s findings have shown empirically that workplace deviance does influence behaviours and perhaps dampens the relationship between organizational citizenship and its commitment to the organization itself. The outcome of the research data can help future managers, particularly in tertiary education settings, in implementing appropriate organizational mechanisms towards improving organizational citizenship behaviour. In addition, the findings can also provide insights for other public and private universities alike in approaching workplace deviance

Accuracy of the Eosinophilic Esophagitis Endoscopic Reference Score in Diagnosis and Determining Response to Treatment

Little is known about the diagnostic utility of the eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) endoscopic reference score (EREFS), and how scores change in response to treatment. We investigated the operating characteristics of the EREFS in diagnosis of EoE, how the score changes with treatment, and ways to optimize scoring system

The extremely narrow-caliber esophagus is a treatment-resistant subphenotype of eosinophilic esophagitis

Some patients with eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) have an extremely narrowed esophagus, but the characteristics of this group have not been extensively described. We aimed to characterize the narrow-caliber phenotype of EoE, determine associated risk factors, and identify differences in treatment response in this sub-group of patients

Validation of frequency and mode extraction calculations from time-domain simulations of accelerator cavities

The recently developed frequency extraction algorithm [G.R. Werner and J.R. Cary, J. Comp. Phys. 227, 5200 (2008)] that enables a simple FDTD algorithm to be transformed into an efficient eigenmode solver is applied to a realistic accelerator cavity modeled with embedded boundaries and Richardson extrapolation. Previously, the frequency extraction method was shown to be capable of distinguishing M degenerate modes by running M different simulations and to permit mode extraction with minimal post-processing effort that only requires solving a small eigenvalue problem. Realistic calculations for an accelerator cavity are presented in this work to establish the validity of the method for realistic modeling scenarios and to illustrate the complexities of the computational validation process. The method is found to be able to extract the frequencies with error that is less than a part in 10^5. The corrected experimental and computed values differ by about one parts in 10^$, which is accounted for (in largest part) by machining errors. The extraction of frequencies and modes from accelerator cavities provides engineers and physicists an understanding of potential cavity performance as it depends on shape without incurring manufacture and measurement costs

Patterns of geohelminth infection, impact of albendazole treatment and re-infection after treatment in schoolchildren from rural KwaZulu-Natal/South-Africa

BACKGROUND: Geohelminth infection is a major health problem of children from rural areas of developing countries. In an attempt to reduce this burden, the Department of Health of the province of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) established in 1998 a programme for helminth control that aimed at regularly treating primary school children for schistosomiasis and intestinal helminths. This article describes the baseline situation and the effect of treatment on geohelminth infection in a rural part of the province. METHODS: Grade 3 schoolchildren from Maputaland in northern KZN were examined for infections with hookworm, Ascaris lumbricoides, and Trichuris trichiura, treated twice with 400 mg albendazole and re-examined several times over one year after the first treatment in order to assess the impact of treatment and patterns of infection and re-infection. RESULTS: The hookworm prevalence in the study population (83.2%) was considerably higher than in other parts of the province whereas T. trichiura and especially A. lumbricoides prevalences (57.2 and 19.4%, respectively) were much lower than elsewhere on the KZN coastal plain. Single dose treatment with albendazole was very effective against hookworm and A. lumbricoides with cure rates (CR) of 78.8 and 96.4% and egg reduction rates (ERR) of 93.2 and 97.7%, respectively. It was exceptionally ineffective against T. trichiura (CR = 12.7%, ERR = 24.8%). Re-infection with hookworm and A. lumbricoides over 29 weeks after treatment was considerable but still well below pre-treatment levels. CONCLUSION: High geohelminth prevalences and re-infection rates in the study population confirm the need for regular treatment of primary school children in the area. The low effectiveness of single course albendazole treatment against T. trichiura infection however demands consideration of alternative treatment approaches

A genus in the bacterial phylum Aquificota appears to be endemic to Aotearoa-New Zealand.

Allopatric speciation has been difficult to examine among microorganisms, with prior reports of endemism restricted to sub-genus level taxa. Previous microbial community analysis via 16S rRNA gene sequencing of 925 geothermal springs from the Taupō Volcanic Zone (TVZ), Aotearoa-New Zealand, revealed widespread distribution and abundance of a single bacterial genus across 686 of these ecosystems (pH 1.2-9.6 and 17.4-99.8 °C). Here, we present evidence to suggest that this genus, Venenivibrio (phylum Aquificota), is endemic to Aotearoa-New Zealand. A specific environmental niche that increases habitat isolation was identified, with maximal read abundance of Venenivibrio occurring at pH 4-6, 50-70 °C, and low oxidation-reduction potentials. This was further highlighted by genomic and culture-based analyses of the only characterised species for the genus, Venenivibrio stagnispumantis CP.B2T, which confirmed a chemolithoautotrophic metabolism dependent on hydrogen oxidation. While similarity between Venenivibrio populations illustrated that dispersal is not limited across the TVZ, extensive amplicon, metagenomic, and phylogenomic analyses of global microbial communities from DNA sequence databases indicates Venenivibrio is geographically restricted to the Aotearoa-New Zealand archipelago. We conclude that geographic isolation, complemented by physicochemical constraints, has resulted in the establishment of an endemic bacterial genus