The effect of Big 5 personality traits in managers and Theory X/Y leadership on employee outcomes

This item is only available electronically.Research shows that managers have a large impact on employees, with studies showing that up to 75% of people report leaving their job because of their manager or something their manager could have changed (Robison, 2008). Increased employee turnover results in negative organisational outcomes, so it is critical to reduce this as much as possible and invest in further research to help prevent it. This study examined the relationship between perceived personality traits, managerial style using McGregor’s (1960) Theory X/Y and managerial likeability. An online questionnaire was administered to participants (N=102) which consisted of the NEO-FFI, and four different measures for Theory X/Y, intrinsic/extrinsic motivation, productivity propensity, and turnover intentions. The results showed that that in terms of personality, 'disliked' managers were described as having a Theory X orientation, higher scores on neuroticism, and lower scores on openness, agreeableness and conscientiousness. Favourably perceived managers were described as having a Theory Y orientation, with higher scores on extraversion. Results also showed that employees who liked their manager were more likely to rate their intrinsic/extrinsic motivation, productivity, job satisfaction, and intention to remain at the workplace more highly compared with those who didn’t like their manager. These results highlight the impact of managerial style and managerial personality on employee outcomes and attitudes towards their managers and their work. The implications of these results are discussed along with ideas for future research.Thesis (B.PsychSc(Hons)) -- University of Adelaide, School of Psychology, 201

Space Shuttle 2 Advanced Space Transportation System. Volume 1: Executive Summary

An investigation into the feasibility of establishing a second generation space transportation system is summarized. Incorporating successful systems from the Space Shuttle and technological advances made since its conception, the second generation shuttle was designed to be a lower-cost, reliable system which would guarantee access to space well into the next century. A fully reusable, all-liquid propellant booster/orbiter combination using parallel burn was selected as the base configuration. Vehicle characteristics were determined from NASA ground rules and optimization evaluations. The launch profile was constructed from particulars of the vehicle design and known orbital requirements. A stability and control analysis was performed for the landing phase of the orbiter's flight. Finally, a preliminary safety analysis was performed to indicate possible failure modes and consequences

Space Shuttle 2 advanced space transportation system, volume 2

To determine the best configuration from all candidate configurations, it was necessary first to calculate minimum system weights and performance. To optimize the design, it is necessary to vary configuration-specific variables such as total system weight, thrust-to-weight ratios, burn durations, total thrust available, and mass fraction for the system. Optimizing each of these variables at the same time is technically unfeasible and not necessarily mathematically possible. However, discrete sets of data can be generated which will eliminate many candidate configurations. From the most promising remaining designs, a final configuration can be selected. Included are the three most important designs considered: one which closely approximates the design criteria set forth in a Marshall Space Flight Center study of the Shuttle 2; the configuration used in the initial proposal; and the final configuration. A listing by cell of the formulas used to generate the aforementioned data is included for reference

Keeping it light: (re)analyzing community-wide datasets without major infrastructure

© The Author(s), 2019. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Alexander, H., Johnson, L. K., & Brown, C. T.. Keeping it light: (re)analyzing community-wide datasets without major infrastructure. Gigascience, 8(2),(2019): giy159, doi:10.1093/gigascience/giy159.DNA sequencing technology has revolutionized the field of biology, shifting biology from a data-limited to data-rich state. Central to the interpretation of sequencing data are the computational tools and approaches that convert raw data into biologically meaningful information. Both the tools and the generation of data are actively evolving, yet the practice of re-analysis of previously generated data with new tools is not commonplace. Re-analysis of existing data provides an affordable means of generating new information and will likely become more routine within biology, yet necessitates a new set of considerations for best practices and resource development. Here, we discuss several practices that we believe to be broadly applicable when re-analyzing data, especially when done by small research groups.Funding was provided by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation (award GBMF4551 to C.T.B.)

Re-assembly, quality evaluation, and annotation of 678 microbial eukaryotic reference transcriptomes

© The Author(s), 2019. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Johnson, L. K., Alexander, H., & Brown, C. T. Re-assembly, quality evaluation, and annotation of 678 microbial eukaryotic reference transcriptomes. Gigascience, 8(4), (2019): giy158, doi: 10.1093/gigascience/giy158.Background: De novo transcriptome assemblies are required prior to analyzing RNA sequencing data from a species without an existing reference genome or transcriptome. Despite the prevalence of transcriptomic studies, the effects of using different workflows, or “pipelines,” on the resulting assemblies are poorly understood. Here, a pipeline was programmatically automated and used to assemble and annotate raw transcriptomic short-read data collected as part of the Marine Microbial Eukaryotic Transcriptome Sequencing Project. The resulting transcriptome assemblies were evaluated and compared against assemblies that were previously generated with a different pipeline developed by the National Center for Genome Research. Results: New transcriptome assemblies contained the majority of previous contigs as well as new content. On average, 7.8% of the annotated contigs in the new assemblies were novel gene names not found in the previous assemblies. Taxonomic trends were observed in the assembly metrics. Assemblies from the Dinoflagellata showed a higher number of contigs and unique k-mers than transcriptomes from other phyla, while assemblies from Ciliophora had a lower percentage of open reading frames compared to other phyla. Conclusions: Given current bioinformatics approaches, there is no single “best” reference transcriptome for a particular set of raw data. As the optimum transcriptome is a moving target, improving (or not) with new tools and approaches, automated and programmable pipelines are invaluable for managing the computationally intensive tasks required for re-processing large sets of samples with revised pipelines and ensuring a common evaluation workflow is applied to all samples. Thus, re-assembling existing data with new tools using automated and programmable pipelines may yield more accurate identification of taxon-specific trends across samples in addition to novel and useful products for the community.Funding was provided by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation under award number GBMF4551 to C.T.B. Jetstream cloud platform was used with XSEDE allocation TG-BIO160028 [66, 67]

Effects of Transformational Leadership on Direct Home Healthcare Employee Turnover

Ineffective leadership and excessive direct home healthcare workers’ intent to resign may decrease home healthcare worker satisfaction, increase workplace accidents, and hinder the quality of patient home healthcare. Home healthcare leaders have a problem of retaining direct home healthcare workers and can benefit from comprehending the factors that enhance leadership and mitigate the turnover of home healthcare workers. Grounded in transformational leadership theory, the purpose of this quantitative correlational study was to examine the relationship between the perception of transformational leadership behaviors and direct care intent to resign. The population consisted of direct home healthcare workers who reported to frontline managers in West Virginia. Ninety-seven direct home healthcare workers completed the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire 5-X Short Form and the Michigan Organizational Assessment Questionnaire. Data were analyzed using multiple linear regression. The results of the model as a whole to predict intent to quit were not significant, F(5, 91) = 1.675, p = .149, R2 = .084. A key recommendation is that transformational leaders leverage their charisma to enhance positive communication with employees to reduce the intent to resign. Implications for social change include the potential for direct home healthcare leaders to spend more time promoting healthier patients, contributing to employee and patient wellness, and improving operational effectiveness, which might mitigate the cost of patient home care

The effects of classic and variant infectious bursal disease viruses on lymphocyte populations in specific-pathogen-free White Leghorn chickens

Infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV) is a pathogen that primarily infects B lymphocytes in domestic avian species. This viral infection has been associated with immunosuppression, clinical disease/mortality, and enteric malabsorption effects. The purpose of this experiment was to compare the effects of a classic (USDA-STC) and a new variant IBDV (RB-4, known to induce primarily the enteric disease) on immune cell populations in lymphoid organs. Seventeen-dayold specific-pathogen-free (SPF) White Leghorn chickens were either not infected (control) or inoculated with either USDA-STC or RB-4 IBD viral isolate. On days 3 and 5 post-inoculation (PI), lymphoid tissues were collected to prepare cell suspensions for immunofluorescent staining and cell population analysis by flow cytometry. Portions of the tissues were snap frozen for immunohistochemistry to localize various immune cells and IBD virus in the tissues. Tissue homogenates were prepared to test for IBDV by quantitative MTT assay. Both the USDA-STC and RB-4 viruses greatly altered lymphocyte populations in the spleen and bursa. At 5 d PI, bursal B cells were approximately 25% and 60% of lymphocytes in chicks infected with USDA-STC and RB-4, respectively, whereas in control birds, B cells constituted 99% of bursal lymphocytes. This reduction in the proportions of bursal B cells was associated with an infiltration of T cells. In the spleen, IBDV infection also reduced the percentage of B cells and increased the percentage of T cells. The differential effects of classic and variant IBDV infection on immune cell populations in lymphoid organs may explain the differences in clinical effects induced by these viruse

Mutational and transcriptional analyses of an avian pathogenic Escherichia coli ColV plasmid

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Previously we described a 184-kb ColV plasmid, pAPEC-O2-ColV, that contributed to the ability of an <it>E. coli </it>to kill avian embryos, grow in human urine, and colonize the murine kidney. Here, the roles of several genes encoded by this plasmid in virulence were assessed using mutational and transcriptional analyses.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Genes chosen for deletion were <it>iss</it>, <it>tsh</it>, <it>iutA</it>, <it>iroN</it>, <it>sitA</it>, and <it>cvaB</it>. In addition, a 35-kb region of the plasmid, containing <it>iss</it>, <it>tsh</it>, and the ColV and <it>iro </it>operons, along with a 15-kb region containing both the aerobactin and <it>sit </it>operons, were deleted. Mutants were compared to the wild-type (APEC O2) for lethality to chick embryos and growth in human urine. Expression of the targeted genes was also assessed under these same conditions using RT-PCR</p> <p>Results</p> <p>No significant differences between the mutants and the wild-type in these phenotypic traits were detected. However, genes encoding known or predicted iron transport systems were up-regulated during growth in human urine, as compared to growth in LB broth, while <it>iss</it>, <it>hlyF</it>, and <it>iroN </it>were strongly up-regulated in chick embryos.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>While no difference was observed between the mutant strains and their wild-type parent in the phenotypic traits assayed, we reasoned that some compensatory virulence mechanism, insensitivity of the virulence assays, or other factor could have obscured changes in the virulence of the mutants. Indeed we found several of these genes to be up-regulated in human urine and/or in the chick embryo, suggesting that certain genes linked to ColV plasmids are involved in the establishment of avian extraintestinal infection.</p