Teaching Leadership from a Communication Perspective

Interest in leadership has intensified during the past decade. This heightened interest in leadership appears to be encouraging communication departments to offer leadership coursework. This article provides a model for a communication-based course in leadership. A sample syllabus, information on preferred teaching methods, and instructional resources are presented

Correlates of Talkaholism in New Zealand: An Intracultural Analysis of the Compulsive Communication Construct

This study focused on correlates of the compulsive communication construct in New Zealand. Participants were 216 New Zealand university students who completed the Talkaholic Scale to measure their tendency to be compulsive communicators. Self-reports of communication apprehension, willingness to conununicate, argumentativeness, innovativeness, and self-monitoring were also completed. Results indicated a weak negative correlation with communication apprehension and weak positive correlations with argumentativeness and selfmonitoring. Differences in talkaholism between males and females were significant, but the amount of variance accounted for by biological sex was very small. This study provides further support for the distinctiveness of the compulsive communication construct and its measurement through the Talkaholic Scale

Explaining the Effects of Powerless Language Use on the Evaluative Listening Process: A Theory of Implicit Prototypes

This study examined the effects of forewarning arid discounting messages on the evaluational consequences of powerless language use. The specific forewarning message contained information on types of powerless language (including hesitations) and their effects. The general forewarning message excluded mention of hesitations. The discounting message cautioned against making trait attributions based on powerless language behaviors. In Experiment #1, listeners exposed to the specific and general forewarning messages gave lower competence ratings to the lecturer and were less likely to recommend that he be hired as an instructor. The discounting message did not moderate negative evaluations of the lecturer. In Experiment #2, a one week delay was inserted between the forewarning and discounting messages and the oral presentation. No significant differences were found between the activation conditions and the control condition. The results of this study suggest that the theory of implicit prototypes may explain how the evaluative listening process forms impressions of power· less and powerful sources

Rapidly solidified titanium alloys by melt overflow

A pilot plant scale furnace was designed and constructed for casting titanium alloy strips. The furnace combines plasma arc skull melting techniques with melt overflow rapid solidification technology. A mathematical model of the melting and casting process was developed. The furnace cast strip of a suitable length and width for use with honeycomb structures. Titanium alloys Ti-6Al-4V and Ti-14Al-21 Nb were successfully cast into strips. The strips were evaluated by optical metallography, microhardness measurements, chemical analysis, and cold rolling

The Effects of an Instructor\u27s Use of Hesitation Forms on Student Ratings of Quality, Recommendations to Hire, and Lecture Listening

This study examined the impact of instructor use of hesitation forms ( uh, ah, um, and well ) in an initial encounter with the students on three measures of teaching effectiveness: students ratings of teacher quality, student recommendations to hire, and lecture listening. The instruction of any amount of hesitant speech significantly lowered instructor effectiveness as measured by each dependent variable. Generally, the use of higher frequencies of hesitation forms was more damaging than the use of lower frequencies. The findings of this study suggest that the use of other forms of powerless language may also detract from the teacher effectiveness

Epigallocatechin-3-Gallate (EGCG) Suppresses Pancreatic Cancer Cell Growth, Invasion, and Migration partly through the Inhibition of Akt Pathway and Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition: Enhanced Efficacy when Combined with Gemcitabine.

Most pancreatic cancers are usually diagnosed at an advanced stage when they have already metastasized. Epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), a major polyphenolic constituent of green tea, has been shown to reduce pancreatic cancer growth, but its effect on metastasis remains elusive. This study evaluated the capacity of EGCG to inhibit pancreatic cancer cell migration and invasion and the underlying mechanisms. EGCG reduced pancreatic cancer cell growth, migration, and invasion in vitro and in vivo. EGCG prevented "Cadherin switch" and decreased the expression level of TCF8/ZEB1, β-Catenin, and Vimentin. Mechanistically, EGCG inhibited the Akt pathway in a time-dependent manner, by suppressing IGFR phosphorylation and inducing Akt degradation. Co-treatment with catalase or N-Acetyl-L-cysteine did not abrogate EGCG's effect on the Akt pathway or cell growth. Moreover, EGCG synergized with gemcitabine to suppress pancreatic cancer cell growth, migration, and invasion, through modulating epithelial-mesenchymal transition markers and inhibiting Akt pathway. In summary, EGCG may prove beneficial to improve gemcitabine sensitivity in inhibiting pancreatic cancer cell migration and invasion, to some extent through the inhibition of Akt pathway and epithelial-mesenchymal transition

Voice Flows To And Around Leaders: Understanding When Units Are Helped Or Hurt By Employee Voice

In two studies, we develop and test theory about the relationship between speaking up, one type of organizational citizenship behavior, and unit performance by accounting for where employee voice is flowing. Results from a qualitative study of managers and professionals across a variety of industries suggest that voice to targets at different formal power levels (peers or superiors) and locations in the organization (inside or outside a focal unit) differs systematically in terms of its usefulness in generating actions to a unit's benefit on the issues raised and in the likely information value of the ideas expressed. We then theorize how distinct voice flows should be differentially related to unit performance based on these core characteristics and test our hypotheses using time-lagged field data from 801 employees and their managers in 93 units across nine North American credit unions. Results demonstrate that voice flows are positively related to a unit's effectiveness when they are targeted at the focal leader of that unitwho should be able to take actionwhether from that leader's own subordinates or those in other units, and negatively related to a unit's effectiveness when they are targeted at coworkers who have little power to effect change. Together, these studies provide a structural framework for studying the nature and impact of multiple voice flows, some along formal reporting lines and others that reflect the informal communication structure within organizations. This research demonstrates that understanding the potential performance benefits and costs of voice for leaders and their units requires attention to the structure and complexity of multiple voice flows rather than to an undifferentiated amount of voice.Business Administratio

Spectroscopy of 50^{50}Sc and ab initio calculations of B(M3)B(M3) strengths

The GRIFFIN spectrometer at TRIUMF-ISAC has been used to study excited states and transitions in $^{50}$Sc following the $\beta$-decay of $^{50}$Ca. Branching ratios were determined from the measured $\gamma$-ray intensities, and angular correlations of $\gamma$ rays have been used to firmly assign the spins of excited states. The presence of an isomeric state that decays by an $M3$ transition with a $B(M3)$ strength of 13.6(7)\,W.u. has been confirmed. We compare with the first {\it ab initio} calculations of $B(M3$) strengths in light and medium-mass nuclei from the valence-space in-medium similarity renormalization group approach, using consistently derived effective Hamiltonians and $M3$ operator. The experimental data are well reproduced for isoscalar $M3$ transitions when using bare $g$-factors, but the strength of isovector $M3$ transitions are found to be underestimated by an order of magnitude