The Effect of Standardized Testing on Historical Literacy and Educational Reform in the U.S.

Public education in America has an impressive history of success in equipping students with literacy that extends back to the earliest days of our nation. Education was a high priority for the original settlers in America who, motivated by their religious convictions, eagerly sought mastery and dissemination of literacy skills throughout the population. For most of the Protestant settlers, their beliefs derived from the doctrines of the Reformation and they considered the ability to read as a fundamental necessity for grounding citizens in the tenets of their faith as well as their government

The Association of Strategies and the Effects of Deployment on Organizational Operations

This study surveyed the Louisiana Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve to determine the strategies associated with the effects of deployment on organizational output, customer satisfaction, and employee behavior. The results reveal that customer complaints and late deliveries are associated with rework, training, employee effort, and work schedule alterations. Team efforts were associated with employee satisfaction, rate in which customers were won or lost, number of customers won or lost, and the quality and quantity of output. The findings indicate that training, team participation, rework, increased employee effort, and work schedule alterations are associated with the effects of deployment. The U.S. relies heavily on military reserves to meet the demand for military personnel (Commission on the National Guard and Reserves, 2007; Hartley & Sandler, 1995; Scott, 2001). Moreover, military sources maintain that the cooperation of civilian employers is essential to the missions on the war against terror (Daywalt & Herman, 2006; Scott, 2001)

The Effects of Absenteeism on Organizational Outcomes: A Principal Component Analysis

This study surveyed the Louisiana Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve data base to determine the effects of absenteeism on the association between number of customers served by the organization and measures of organizational output, customer satisfaction, and employee behavior. The Principal Component Analysis indicated that quality of the organization’s output, employee’s satisfaction with their work, and training on employee performance are all positively associated with change in the number of customers served

The Incorporation of Phosphorus into Block Copolymers and Their Self-Assembly

The content of this thesis focuses on the incorporation of phosphorus into amphiphilic block copolymers (BCPs) for the realization of novel properties in the solution phase self-assembled materials derived from the BCPs. The incorporation was achieved through either attaching phosphorus to the terminus of already existing BCPs or the synthesis of novel BCPs from prepared or commercially available phosphorus containing monomers. The phosphorus containing polymers exhibited properties dependent on the existence of the phosphorus species in the BCPs. The first example of this is the modification of poly(ethylene oxide)-b-poly(ε-caprolactone) (PEO-b-PCL) copolymers by the attachment of tetraalkyl phosphonium salts with varying alkyl chains to the PEO chain end. The resulting nanoscale assemblies displayed antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. The nano-assemblies were also able to encapsulate and release the hydrophobic drug tetracycline. The second example from this work is the incorporation of phosphorus into the side chains of an amphiphilic polystyrene-b-poly((4-vinylbenzyl)tributylphosphonium) (PS-b-P(P+X-)) BCP. The BCP was used to study the effect the counter-ion (X-) had on the aqueous self-assembly of the material through variation of the anion on the monomer. Anions investigated in the work included chloride, bromide, nitrate and trifluoromethylsulfonate. The work demonstrated that while maintaining the same degree of polymerization the change in the anion prior to self-assembly resulted in a significant difference in the resulting nanoparticles. The third example of the incorporation of phosphorus into a BCP features a poly(4-diphenylphosphino styrene)-b-poly((4-vinylbenzyl)tributylphosphonium chloride). This block copolymer features phosphorus in the P(III) and the P(V) oxidation states. The P(III) block is able to form the core of self-assembled nano-particles and was shown to coordinate Pd, W and Mo. The corona is able to undergo salt metathesis to coordinate AuCl4-. The final work presented in this thesis demonstrates efforts toward the synthesis of functional end-group containing polymers by the inclusion of phosphorus in RAFT agents. The work demonstrates the incorporation of a phosphonium salt onto the end-group of poly(butyl acrylate) polymers, and demonstrates that the presence of the phosphonium salt allows the material to self-assemble in aqueous solution

Correlation Between Turnover and Organizational Performance: An Exploratory Study

Survey methodology was utilized to measure the effects of turnover on civilian employers of enlisted personnel in the National Guard and Reserve, where turnover is operationalized as deployment of a National Guard or Reserve employee. The sample was randomly selected from the Louisiana Guard and Reserve database. The results indicate that respondents perceived that as a result of deployment there is a positive correlation between the predictors level of organizational output, change in the number of customers served, and the number of team efforts with the criterion quality of the organization’s output. Conversely, when the predictor amount of work effort was included in the stepwise regression, respondents perceived that it was negatively correlated with the quality of the organization’s output

Genetic and demographic patterns of the raccoon (Procyon lotor) across extended spatio-temporal scales

Population features and genetic structure of raccoons (Procyon lotor) and many other solitary-mammalian species are relatively unknown. To better understand these characteristics in P. lotor, microsatellite data collected at local, area, and transcontinental scales and 14 years of local mark-recapture data were used to assess the temporal and spatial extent of philopatry, dispersal, formation of lineages, and genetic patterns associated with these factors. Specifically, I tested the following predictions for raccoons: (1) long-term residency is common; (2) patterns of genetic variation are associated with isolation by distance; (3) closely related animals remain spatially clustered. Only 26 of 215 P. lotor were captured over 2-10 years to become long-term residents, and just 1 juvenile remained philopatric for more than 1 year. Lower proportions of juveniles than other ages and of males than females became long-term residents. Most long-term residencies were established during periodic 2-year peaks in precipitation. The prediction that long-term residents would be common was not supported, and the observed pattern of genetic variability would not facilitate lineage-structuring in the population. Genetic differentiation between sites appeared to be increased through: (1) isolation by distance at local, area, and transcontinental scales; (2) females remaining on local sites; and (3) landscape barriers to movement that could also reduce the spread of diseases by raccoons. Evidence in 22 individuals suggested movement between sites 75-1200 km apart. The prediction that patterns of genetic variation are associated with isolation by distance was supported. The distance between full sibs in 71 pairs inferred by genotypes from microsatellites was \u3c1 km for 46 pairs and \u3e69 km for 5 pairs, with a mean of 7.0 km. Rarely, did sib groups shift locations together, comprise more than 3 individuals, or remain intact in the same vicinity for more than a year. The spatial dispersion among related raccoons was greater in males than in females, in older adults than in younger adults, and during dry years than during wet years. These patterns could speed the spread of key diseases but did not support the prediction that closely related raccoons would remain geographically clustered over multiple years

The effects of activation on employers of Reserve and National guard soldiers

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of military deployment or activation of reserve and National Guard soldiers on civilian employers. Understanding how activation affects the operations of civilian employers will increase awareness of the effects of labor stability on organizations. The study utilizes survey methodology to measure changes in organizational output, customer satisfaction, and employee behavior. In addition, number of employees supervised, strategies employed to adapt to the effects of activation on operations, organizational types, and the amount of time required for the organization to return to pre-activation levels of performance were measured. The sample was randomly selected from the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR) database in Louisiana. The conclusion of this study is that the majority of organizations were not affected by activation. The distribution of strategies to adapt to the absence of the reserve employee was not independent from the organization type transportation and material moving. The strategy most used by respondents in the transportation and material moving sector to cope with the loss of the reserve employee was overtime, the second most used strategy was increasing employee workload without adding additional hours worked. The strategy least used by respondents in the transportation and material moving industry sector was reducing the organization’s output. Finally, the strategy using contract labor was found not to be independent of the number of months required to return to a normal level of performance. Government agencies may use the information from this research to formulate policies to counter the effects of activation on the minority of organizations affected by activation. In addition, the results from this study may enable human resource practitioners to create overtime and work load polices to counter the effects that employee absences have on organizations. The results from this study ran counter to past research on employee turnover and organizational performance, as well as recent research performed on troop activation and organizational performance. Finally, the study highlights the need for further research in the area of troop activation by exploring divergent and often conflicting views in the current literature

Alien Registration- Hisey, Emily M. (Auburn, Androscoggin County)

https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/31068/thumbnail.jp

A Theoretical Model on the Effects of Voluntary Turnover on Organizational Performance

This paper presents a two-fold theoretical model to explain the effects of voluntary turnover on organizational performance. First, we use the Phase Component to determine whether an organization is over or under staffed, or whether an organization utilizes its human resources optimally. Next, we use the Performance Component to describe how antecedents, organizational performance, and organizational phase affect an organization’s ability to compete in the market place