The Birth of the Bicycle: The Development, Aesthetic form, and Social Attitude Towards the Velocipede of the 19th Century

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Arts of Bard College

Telecommunications Mega-Mergers: Impact On Employee Morale And Turnover Intention

The number of mergers and acquisitions grew at record rates in the United States over the past 10 years, and mega telecommunications mergers have been no exception. Three very high-profile telecommunications mergers included MCI and Verizon, Sprint and Nextel, and BellSouth and AT&T. These megamergers have changed the competitive landscape dramatically in the telecom arena. Despite the popularity of mergers and acquisitions (M&As), evidence has shown that the majority have failed to improve performance and failed to achieve anticipated strategic and financial objectives set forth in the premerger planning phase, according to J. Krug and R. Aguilera’s 2004 article “Top Management Team Turnover in Mergers and Acquisitions” in Advances in Mergers and Acquisitions. The primary reason behind such common performance failures according to S. Cartwright and C. L. Cooper’s 2000 HR Know-How in Mergers and Acquisitions was based on various human resources factors such as culture, management, poor motivation, and loss of talent. Based on the aforementioned post corporate merger performance failure considerations, this research study examined the impact on employee morale and turnover intention related to a recent megamerger between two telecommunications conglomerates

Utilizing Political Ideologies To Market A Political Candidate

This article explores the reductionist approach of political ideologies as used by political candidates, which is part of the common feature of political marketing. Understanding the value or belief system which is accepted as fact or truth by the targeted group, places the candidate in a position to promote them self as a well-intentioned, committed leader who seeks to motivate the audience to action. Modern marketing of political candidates begins by understanding central concepts of ideologies. The utilization of ideologies is complex, in that there is no single concept or claim revealing surprising affinities with various images of the candidate. It also has distinctive function, by misrepresenting the totality of the ideology by forming a total belief in the candidate versus the ideology in a particular way. People must commit or surrender to the demands of the candidate, thus making it possible for the candidate to get elected. The branding of the candidate while utilizing political ideologies in part disables people from easily disregarding information perceived to be antithetical to the concepts of the ideology (Quelch, 2007)

The Implications Of Leadership On Narco-Terrorism Policy Management

The purpose of the study was to determine the impact of leadership and managerial decision making within the Drug Enforcement Administration since September 11, 2001.  A web based survey questionnaire was used to collect the data.  Participants in the study were criminal justice professors from randomly selected colleges and universities located in the southeast and southwest region of the United States.  Qualitative and quantitative research methods were used. Each participant was asked to complete a post survey that addressed areas of leadership and decision-making based on opinions and knowledge related to criminal justice.  Paired samples t test was used to describe the data. In spite of the survey findings of change in knowledge, skills, and cultural behavior, these changes did not appear to lead to significant differences in determining leadership skills.  It is recommended that future studies use a survey sample instrument designed to measure attitudinal dimensions of decision-making among leaders and managers within the Drug Enforcement Administration.  One possible recommendation is to utilize a different type of comparison method or instrument that would measure certain dimensions of managerial levels between upper and lower management

The Influence Of Criminal Justice Professors On Narco-Terrorism Policies

The purpose of the study was to determine the impact of leadership and managerial decision making within the Drug Enforcement Administration since September 11, 2001.  A web based survey questionnaire was used to collect the data.  Participants in the study were criminal justice professors from randomly selected colleges and universities located in the southeast and southwest region of the United States.  Qualitative and quantitative research methods were used. Each participant was asked to complete a post survey that addressed areas of leadership and decision-making based on opinions and knowledge related to criminal justice.  Paired samples t test was used to describe the data. In spite of the survey findings of change in knowledge, skills, and cultural behavior, these changes did not appear to lead to significant differences in determining leadership skills.  It is recommended that future studies use a survey sample instrument designed to measure attitudinal dimensions of decision-making among leaders and managers within the Drug Enforcement Administration.  One possible recommendation is to utilize a different type of comparison method or instrument that would measure certain dimensions of managerial levels between upper and lower management

Servant Leadership: A Phenomenological Study Of Practices, Experiences, Organizational Effectiveness, And Barriers

The subject of leadership is complex, and one of the main issues facing organizational leaders today is how to motivate employees to actively participate in the efforts that lead to accomplishing organizational goals. This study gathered lived experiences of 15 organizational leaders who practice the servant leadership philosophy, and explored how business leaders link their servant leadership practices to their organization’s effectiveness. The qualitative responses obtained during this study indicated that the perceived organizational barriers that prevent the servant leadership practices are the organization’s culture, the fear of change, and the lack of knowledge regarding the servant leadership philosophy. This study also gained insight into the impact that these organizational barriers have on one’s ability to practice servant leadership

Managing Marketing Teams

With the emergence of global information and technology, firms have reformulated marketing and technological teaming in a concert effort to accommodate transnational marketing relationships that enable firms to compete in a global business society.  Given the competitiveness of organizational distinction and implication, firms have proactively created an internal synergy that enable marketing teams to better excel in an environment of obscurity and uncertainly.  Marketing management has evolved into phenomena that require constant reassessment of vision, mission, and strategy in an unrelenting effort to maintain organizational survival and competitiveness in a global recessive business economy.  Information technology has greatly inspired this renewed sense of competition; moreover, organizations that embrace the challenge of integrating technology within marketing teams will only become the change agents the business world community will aspire to duplicate for great strategic advantage

The Impact Of Leadership And Followership: An Organizational Phenomena

Although traditional research has viewed leadership and followership as separate functions, recent studies have acknowledged the importance of followership in both the effectiveness and development of leaders. Followership models have emerged suggesting that leaders cannot be effective without having experience as a follower and that leaders and followers share characteristics that when successfully used in concert, can result in the achievement of organizational goals. Several stereotypes of what it means to be a follower inhibit both the development of followers and the willingness of aspiring leaders to assume followership roles. More research on the importance of followership to the health of an organization is necessary to encourage follower development

Novae With Long-Lasting Supersoft Emission That Drive a High Accretion Rate

We identify a new class of novae characterized by the post-eruption quiescent light curve being more than roughly a factor of ten brighter than the pre-eruption light curve. Eight novae (V723 Cas, V1500 Cyg, V1974 Cyg, GQ Mus, CP Pup, T Pyx, V4633 Sgr, and RW UMi) are separated out as being significantly distinct from other novae. This group shares a suite of uncommon properties, characterized by the post-eruption magnitude being much brighter than before eruption, short orbital periods, long-lasting supersoft emission following the eruption, a highly magnetized white dwarf, and secular declines during the post-eruption quiescence. We present a basic physical picture which shows why all five uncommon properties are causally connected. Most novae do not have adequate accretion for continuous hydrogen burning, but some can achieve this if the companion star is nearby (with short orbital period) and a magnetic field channels the matter onto a small area on the white dwarf so as to produce a locally high accretion rate. The resultant supersoft flux irradiates the companion star and drives a higher accretion rate (with a brighter post-eruption phase), which serves to keep the hydrogen burning and the supersoft flux going. The feedback loop cannot be perfectly self-sustaining, so the supersoft flux will decline over time, forcing a decline in the accretion rate and the system brightness. We name this new group after the prototype, V1500 Cyg. V1500 Cyg stars are definitely not progenitors of Type Ia supernovae. The V1500 Cyg stars have similar physical mechanisms and appearances as predicted for nova by the hibernation model, but with this group accounting for only 14% of novae.Comment: Astronomical Journal, in press, 39 pages, 10 figure

The Behavior of Novae Light Curves Before Eruption

In 1975, E. R. Robinson conducted the hallmark study of the behavior of classical nova light curves before eruption, and this work has now become part of the standard knowledge of novae. He made three points; that 5 out of 11 novae showed pre-eruption rises in the years before eruption, that one nova (V446 Her) showed drastic changes in the variability across eruptions, and that all but one of the novae (excepting BT Mon) have the same quiescent magnitudes before and after the outburst. This work has not been tested since it came out. We have now tested these results by going back to the original archival photographic plates and measuring large numbers of pre-eruption magnitudes for many novae using comparison stars on a modern magnitude scale. We find in particular that four out of five claimed pre-eruption rises are due to simple mistakes in the old literature, that V446 Her has the same amplitude of variations across its 1960 eruption, and that BT Mon has essentially unchanged brightness across its 1939 eruption. Out of 22 nova eruptions, we find two confirmed cases of significant pre-eruption rises (for V533 Her and V1500 Cyg), while T CrB has a deep pre-eruption dip. These events are a challenge to theorists. We find no significant cases of changes in variability across 27 nova eruptions beyond what is expected due to the usual fluctuations seen in novae away from eruptions. For 30 classical novae plus 19 eruptions from 6 recurrent novae, we find that the average change in magnitude from before the eruption to long after the eruption is 0.0 mag. However, we do find five novae (V723 Cas, V1500 Cyg, V1974 Cyg, V4633 Sgr, and RW UMi) that have significantly large changes, in that the post-eruption quiescent brightness level is over ten times brighter than the pre-eruption level.Comment: 91 pages (preprint), AJ accepte