Stakeholder Perceptions of a University Response to Crisis

The purpose of this study was to contribute to current theory-driven research in crisis communication by examining the perceptions of multiple stakeholder groups to a university crisis response strategy. Two main questions were examined in this dissertation. The first question attempted to determine if a significant difference existed between stakeholder groups and their perception of university reputation, responsibility for the crisis, and potential supportive behaviors toward the university following the university’s response to a crisis. The second asked if Coombs’s Situational Crisis Communication Theory is a practical application for universities. The participants were from 4 stakeholder groups associated with a regional public university: students, faculty, staff, and alumni. An online survey was sent to participants via email. The data analysis revealed significant differences in the perceptions of reputation and in the potential supportive behaviors between staff and faculty and between staff and students. Staff perceived the reputation more favorably and had more favorable potential supportive behaviors than both the faculty and the student stakeholder groups. The results of this research provided empirical evidence that distinct stakeholder groups do perceive crisis response strategies differently. It also supported the application of Situational Crisis Communication Theory in a university setting

The benefits of collaboration and co-teaching in the elementary grades

Collaboration between educators is an older concept that has become popular again in recent years. Due to the recent federal and state mandates, schools are implementing new teaching methods to raise school achievement and benefit all students. When collaborating, special education students are generally included in the general education classroom with two teachers co-teaching to meet the needs of the students. This paper will explore the importance of collaboration between general education and special education teachers and the benefits to all learners in the classroom

Redox heterogeneity in MORB as a function of mantle source

The oxidation state of Earth’s upper mantle both influences and records mantle evolution, but systematic fine-scale variations in upper mantle oxidation state have not previously been recognized in mantle-derived lavas from mid-ocean ridges. Through a global survey of mid-ocean ridge basalt glasses, we show that mantle oxidation state varies systematically as a function of mantle source composition. Negative correlations between Fe3+/ΣFe ratios and indices of mantle enrichment such as 87Sr/86Sr, 208Pb/204Pb, Ba/La, and Nb/Zr ratios reveal that enriched mantle is more reduced than depleted mantle. Because upper mantle carbon may act to simultaneously reduce iron and generate melts that share geochemical traits with our reduced samples, we propose that carbon creates magmas at ridges that are reduced and enriched

Legal Aid of the Bluegrass: Service Through Partnership

https://scholarworks.moreheadstate.edu/student_scholarship_posters/1063/thumbnail.jp

Lewiston Food Policy Audit

The success and development of a sustainable urban and regional food system hinges on the involvement of city planners and policy implementation by local government. Knowledge of where policies are supportive or unsupportive is critical for community activists, such as the Good Food Council of Lewiston Auburn (GFCLA), to direct limited resources toward effective changes. Conducting a food policy audit is one standardized approach for identifying gaps within a food system. In this report, we introduce a food policy audit tool that we adapted for use in Lewiston, Maine. We show results from conducting it in Lewiston and provide recommendations for policy change and future work. The audit tool is composed of 97 “yes” or “no” questions regarding city food policy. To answer these questions, we relied on the knowledge of city government officials and local experts. In interviews where we posed the audit tool questions, we additionally discussed related current policies and programs. We also inquired about the relative need for improving and developing new policies related to each question, and discussed potential challenges associated with implementing these changes. With the help of many invaluable resource persons, we were successful in adapting the audit tool and completing the audit within ten weeks. In examining the collected data, we found that the “yes/no” binary of the tool did not clearly identify gaps in the food system. With the objective of clarifying these results, we developed both a quantitative and qualitative classification scheme, and applied this methodology to analyze the audit tool. The quantitative classification scheme is based off of a numerical “grade” ranging between zero and one, depending on if the policy supports or inhibits the sustainability of the Lewiston food system. To further delineate our data we developed a qualitative classification scheme, applied to questions with grades below one. The qualitative 2 classification ranks the gaps on both their urgency and feasibility for change, which were largely determined via the advice of resource persons and our learned knowledge of the local food policy climate. Our quantitative grading scheme indicates that 22% of the policy enacted is currently supporting a sustainable food system in Lewiston. The remaining 78% is not, allowing for the identification of policies that are detrimental, non-existent, or existing at the federal or state level instead of at the city level. When policies exist at the state or federal level, there is opportunity to ensure food policies are meeting the specific needs of the Lewiston community. We have compiled a list of recommendations ranging from broad to specific next-steps. It is our intention that these future projects be pursued by the GFCLA in partnership with another Bates College ES capstone group and/or through collaboration with other interested individuals and organizations. Recommendations: ● Confirm audit data by referencing the literature of Lewiston policy and code. ● Conduct a literature review to examine strategies for bridging identified gaps in cities similar to Lewiston. ● Consider changing the Lewiston food sovereignty declaration to permit the sale of homegrown vegetables and other goods to friends and family. ● Considering implementing longer contracts for community farm gardens in abandoned lots, as well as “joint use” agreements for gardens between local organizations and schools. 3 ● Conduct an assessment of the feasibility of implementing compost in the Lewiston Public Schools. ● Identify local programs that are already improving the sustainability of the food system and develop a plan to increase city support through advertising campaigns that direct citizens to such existing programs and organizations. ○ Ensure these advertising campaigns reach the New Mainer community. ● Research the pros and cons of establishing agricultural preservation laws in Lewiston. ● Before embarking on advocacy for any suggested changes, conduct interviews with community members who would be impacted by a change in policy. ● Conduct a similar food policy audit in Auburn and find potential areas to collaborate between the cities to increase the sustainability of the Lewiston food system

Who does what now? How physics lab instruction impacts student behaviors

While laboratory instruction is a cornerstone of physics education, the impact of student behaviours in labs on retention, persistence in the field, and the formation of students' physics identity remains an open question. In this study, we performed in-lab observations of student actions over two semesters in two pedagogically different sections of the same introductory physics course. We used a cluster analysis to identify different categories of student behaviour and analyzed how they correlate with lab structure and gender. We find that, in lab structures which fostered collaborative group work and promoted decision making, there was a task division along gender lines with respect to laptop and equipment usage (and found no such divide among students in guided verification labs).Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, 3 table

Mantle melting as a function of water content beneath back-arc basins

Subduction zone magmas are characterized by high concentrations of H_(2)O, presumably derived from the subducted plate and ultimately responsible for melting at this tectonic setting. Previous studies of the role of water during mantle melting beneath back-arc basins found positive correlations between the H_(2)O concentration of the mantle (H_(2)O_o ) and the extent of melting (F), in contrast to the negative correlations observed at mid-ocean ridges. Here we examine data compiled from six back-arc basins and three mid-ocean ridge regions. We use TiO_2 as a proxy for F, then use F to calculate H_(2)O_o from measured H_(2)O concentrations of submarine basalts. Back-arc basins record up to 0.5 wt % H_(2)O or more in their mantle sources and define positive, approximately linear correlations between H_(2)O_o and F that vary regionally in slope and intercept. Ridge-like mantle potential temperatures at back-arc basins, constrained from Na-Fe systematics (1350°–1500°C), correlate with variations in axial depth and wet melt productivity (∼30–80% F/wt % H_(2)O_o ). Water concentrations in back-arc mantle sources increase toward the trench, and back-arc spreading segments with the highest mean H_(2)O_o are at anomalously shallow water depths, consistent with increases in crustal thickness and total melt production resulting from high H_(2)O. These results contrast with those from ridges, which record low H_(2)O_o (<0.05 wt %) and broadly negative correlations between H_(2)O_o and F that result from purely passive melting and efficient melt focusing, where water and melt distribution are governed by the solid flow field. Back-arc basin spreading combines ridge-like adiabatic melting with nonadiabatic mantle melting paths that may be independent of the solid flow field and derive from the H_(2)O supply from the subducting plate. These factors combine significant quantitative and qualitative differences in the integrated influence of water on melting phenomena in back-arc basin and mid-ocean ridge settings

Heterogeneities from the first 100 million years recorded in deep mantle noble gases from the Northern Lau Back-arc Basin

Heavy noble gases (Ne, Ar, Xe) can record long-lasting heterogeneities in the mantle because of the production of isotopes from extant (238U, 40K) and extinct (129I and 244Pu)13 radionuclides. However, the presence of ubiquitous atmospheric contamination, particularly for ocean island basalts (OIBs) that sample the Earth’s deep mantle, have largely hampered precise characterization of the mantle source compositions. Here we present new high-precision noble gas data from gas-rich basalts erupted along the Rochambeau Rift in the northwestern corner of the Lau Basin. The strong influence of a deep mantle plume in the Rochambeau source is apparent from low 4He/3He ratios down to 25,600 (3He/4He of 28.1 RA). We find that the Rochambeau source is characterized by low ratios of radiogenic to non-radiogenic nuclides of Ne, Ar, and Xe (i.e., low 21Ne/22Ne, 40Ar/36Ar, and 129Xe/130Xe) compared to the mantle source of mid-ocean ridge basalts (MORBs). Additionally, we observe differences in elemental abundance patterns between the Rochambeau source and the mantle source of MORBs as characterized by the gas-rich popping rock from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. However, the 3He/22Ne ratio of the Rochambeau plume source is significantly higher than the Iceland and Galapagos plume sources, while the 3He/36Ar and 3He/130Xe ratios appear to be similar. The difference in 3He/22Ne between Rochambeau and the Galapagos and Iceland plume sources could reflect long lasting accretional heterogeneities in the deep mantle or some characteristic of the back-arc mantle source. High-precision xenon isotopic measurements indicate that the lower 129Xe/130Xe ratios in the Rochambeau source cannot be explained solely by mixing atmospheric xenon with MORB31 type xenon; nor can fission-produced Xe be added to MORB Xe to produce the compositions seen in the Rochambeau basalts. Deconvolution of fissiogenic xenon isotopes demonstrate a higher proportion of Pu-derived fission Xe in the Rochambeau 33 source compared to the MORB source. Therefore, both I/Xe and Pu/Xe ratios are different between OIB and MORB mantle sources. Our observations require heterogeneous volatile accretion and a lower degree of processing for the mantle plume source compared to the MORB source. Since differences in 129Xe/130Xe ratios have to be produced while 129I is still alive, OIB and MORB sources were degassed at different rates for the first 100 Ma of Solar System history, and subsequent to this period, the two reservoirs have not been homogenized. In combination with recent results from the Iceland plume, our observations require the preservation of less-degassed, early-formed heterogeneities in the Earth’s deep mantle throughout Earth’s history

Leader-to-member trust model: On the pervasiveness of doubt in effective leadership communication

The purpose of this research was to explore how effective leaders report trusting and doubting their members. Specifically, this investigation: (a) described how effective leaders reported making predictions of the certainty of members' role performances, and (b) cataloged the communication behaviors indicative of those predictions. Three research questions were proposed and answered by interviewing 40 working adults who had reputations for being effective leaders from diverse industries. A modified version of constant comparative analysis, a grounded theory approach, (Charmaz, 2006; Glaser & Strauss, 1967) was used with NVivo 8 to analyze the interview data and answer the research questions. Analysis of interviews revealed there is a tension between a societal Discourse of leadership trust (i.e., good and effective leaders trust their members) and the discourse of leaders (i.e., what the leaders report actually saying and doing; Tracy & Rivera, 2010). The Leader-to-Member Trust Model (LMTM) was introduced to describe how the sample of effective leaders reported coming to predictions about their members' role performances (i.e., trusting and doubting members) through six phases (i.e., selection, probation, escalation, confederation, jeopardy, and termination). The LMTM contributes to Leader-Member Exchange (LMX; Graen & Uhl-Bien, 1995) and leadership trust literature by illustrating how distrust permeates leaders' expectations of members' role performances. Implications for structuration theory are also included