Correlating Residual Stress with Personal and Professional Characteristics in Aircraft Pilots

Every day aircraft pilots must successfully resolve significant inflight situations and then manage the possibility of residual psychological and physiological stress. Previous research has shown primary attention is given to presignificant event training and stress management, however there remains an important gap in the current literature regarding postsignificant event stress within the aviation profession. The purpose of this cross-sectional quantitative study was to use the observational lens of stress theory and survey U.S. pilots who have experienced an inflight emergency, looking for correlation between factors such as age, gender, flight experience, and training against a pilot\u27s self-reported level of residual stress. Using snowball sampling methodology, 101 pilots were anonymously surveyed, with 89% responding that they had some level of residual stress via the Impact of Event Scale-Revised instrument. Using multiple linear regression analysis, the correlation between 9 personal and professional characteristics and pilot\u27s stress level was significant, at R2 =.22, adjusted R2=.14, F(9, 91) = 2.8, p \u3c .01. The sample\u27s correlation coefficient was .47, indicating that approximately 22% of the variance in the residual stress was accounted for by the 9 personal and professional characteristics. Findings from this research will help clarify how pilot training and demographics can affect postsignificant event stress. This knowledge will be an important contribution to the existing literature and enhance social initiatives though an increased awareness of residual stress within the pilot profession. The results can be used to increase aviation safety by enabling the industry and government entities to develop and implement effective stress training initiatives

Mind the Gales:An attention-based view of startup investment arms

This dissertation takes the corporate perspective, and seeks to understand inconsistencies in decision making enacted by corporate venture capital (CVC) investment units. CVC units are often portrayed as rational instruments deployed to obtain corporate innovation and to achieve renewal goals, by gaining privileged access to external startups’ knowledge resources. However, the dissertation proposes a behavioral framework, based on the attention-based view, that demonstrates how the selective attention of CVC units subsequently affects the availability of particular organizational moves. This implies that certain issues and answers are (deliberately or non-deliberately) attended to, while others are ignored. Patterns of selective attention in conjunction with sequential decision-making processes signify that future decisions or organizational moves are highly dependent on the attentional structures of prior decisions. The first study of the dissertation explains why the observed variance in a CVC unit’s selective focus of attention (measured as variance in evaluation durations) results from the unit’s interpretation of a corporate firm’s renewal goals. The second study explains how a CVC unit’s investment behavior can slow down (measured as the number of investments), no matter how many prospective external opportunities are scouted through syndication networks. Finally, the third study explains how CVC units differ in their abilities to transfer and integrate external knowledge embedded in their CVC portfolios. Altogether, the dissertation highlights behavioral characteristics of corporate innovation, and in particular, how CVC units’ selective focus of attention is conditioned by social and emergent factors that in turn shape the particular set of opportunities that a corporate firm can use in pursuit of innovation and strategic renewal

Discordant Harmonies in Fingernail Clam Populations (Musculium transversum) of Mississippi River Backwater Lakes

The populations of Musculium transversum from 8 backwater lakes have been studied over a 29-year period based upon over 440 grab samples. These lakes in Navigation Pool 9 of the Upper Mississippi River (UMR) range in size from 2 to 255 hectare surface area, mean depths from 0.2 to 0.9 meters, with mean water exchange times from 0.5 to almost 57 hours. Samples from the 1989-91 period suggested summer Muscu!ium populations had declined to about 9 percent of their mid-1970 levels. Deterministic models have attempted to explain this decline. More recent sampling suggests a substantial recovery of Musculium populations (mid-summer mean of 560 m- 2 in 2002). Simple stochastic models, with realistic levels of POISSON and NORMAL variables, may provide a better explanation of population fluctuations than previously used deterministic models

Organizing for Innovation

Knowledge diffusion and knowledge externalities are important sources of economic growth. It is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain competitive advantage through the pursuit of internal R&D alone, due to changing business environments and the acceleration of technology development, as well as the increasing costs associated with R&D activities. Consequently, firms purposefully search for novel knowledge outside their boundaries, adopting an “open innovation” approach. In this paper, we focus on external knowledge sourcing strategies and discuss the challenges that firms encounter in managing inter-organizational collaborations that such external sourcing implies. In particular, we focus on two ways to organize external knowledge sourcing: learning from foreign environments and the use of corporate incubators as a part of corporate venturing strategy. We conclude by highlighting possible topics for review articles including knowledge exchange and external knowledge sourcing strategies; performance effects of different knowledge sourcing strategies; new organizational forms for managing innovation processes within and between firms

The Unionid Mussels of the Upper Iowa and Turkey River Watersheds

The Iowa driftless region occupies an area of about 9,000 km2 in the northeastern corner of Iowa and is drained by relatively old entrenched meandering streams. The Upper Iowa River and Turkey River are the largest of these streams. During the period from June, 1999 to October, 2000, a total of 193 sites were surveyed for mussels from the Upper Iowa River, the Turkey River, and their main tributaries. Surveys were conducted by hand using a 10 m bank-to-bank search at each site. Data analysis was facilitated using ArcView GIS. The presence of mussels was recorded at 75% of the sites, and live individuals were noted at 30% of the sites. Thirteen mussel species were recorded, with 5 or more species being found at 17% of the sites and 8 or more species at only 3% of the sites. Five of the species (Cylinder, Creek Heelsplitter, Squawfoot, Ellipse, and Fluted-shell) are listed as either threatened or endangered mussel species in Iowa, and no federally endangered mussels were found

Report on Studies of Streams in the Iowa Driftless Region

The streams of the Iowa Driftless Area occupy old entrenched valleys, have high gradients, and transport cool waters flowing rapidly over rocky substrates. Water quality, overall, is relatively high when judged by either physio-chemical characteristics or stream communities. Distribution of aquatic biota largely reflects the habitats provided by spring-fed streams

The interaction of lean and building information modeling in construction

Lean construction and Building Information Modeling are quite different initiatives, but both are having profound impacts on the construction industry. A rigorous analysis of the myriad specific interactions between them indicates that a synergy exists which, if properly understood in theoretical terms, can be exploited to improve construction processes beyond the degree to which it might be improved by application of either of these paradigms independently. Using a matrix that juxtaposes BIM functionalities with prescriptive lean construction principles, fifty-six interactions have been identified, all but four of which represent constructive interaction. Although evidence for the majority of these has been found, the matrix is not considered complete, but rather a framework for research to explore the degree of validity of the interactions. Construction executives, managers, designers and developers of IT systems for construction can also benefit from the framework as an aid to recognizing the potential synergies when planning their lean and BIM adoption strategies

Pickle pointers

Published February 1962. Facts and recommendations in this publication may no longer be valid. Please look for up-to-date information in the OSU Extension Catalog: http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalo

Increased social anhedonia and reduced helping behaviour in young people with high depressive symptomatology

Background: Social anhedonia, the decreased enjoyment of pleasant social experiences, is associated with depression. However, whether social anhedonia in depression affects prosocial behaviours is unclear. The current study aimed to examine how high levels of depressive symptomatology in young people affect responses to usually rewarding social situations including helping behaviour. Methods: We recruited 46 females, 16 scoring high on the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI scores ≥ 20; Mage = 19; HD) and 30 scoring low (BDI ≤ 10, Mage = 20; LD). In a social emotion task (SET), participants were presented with social scenarios and asked to rate their expected emotional responses. Subsequently, participants’ helping behaviour was measured by dropping a pile of papers near them and recording their responses. Lastly, participants completed the SET again. Results: The SET at time 1 revealed that HD individuals reported significantly stronger negative (p <.001) and weaker positive (p <.05) emotional responses to social situations than LD subjects. Additionally, all participants showed a significant increase in positive responses (p <.05) on the SET between time 1 and time 2. Moreover, HD subjects were less likely to engage in actual helping behaviour than LD participants. Limitations: Limitations of the study are that only females were tested and that no psychiatric screening interview was conducted. Conclusions: Our results indicate that young females with high levels of depression symptoms expect to respond less positively to social situations and engage less in helping behaviour compared to those with low depressive symptomatology. Social anhedonia in depression may thus contribute to decreased engagement in rewarding social situations. This, in turn, may lead to social withdrawal and might maintain depression symptoms though a lack of exposure to positive social feedback