Exploring Factors Perpetuating the Underrepresentation of Women CAOs in Local Government

Despite women\u27s progress in various professional domains, a persistent gender disparity remains evident in local government\u27s most senior non-elected leadership roles. The underrepresentation of women in municipal city management continues, even though women comprise 47.4% of the Canadian labour force (Catalyst, 2020). This research paper aims to understand the underrepresentation of women in municipal Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) roles by examining theoretical perspectives and drawing from recent qualitative research into the gender imbalance in public sector leadership by DeHart-Davis et al. (2020). This research paper aims to shed light on the need for substantive change by unravelling the complexities surrounding the pervasive underrepresentation of women in municipal CAO roles. Secondary data collected on 110 municipalities in Ontario’s Greater Golden Horseshoe region is analyzed and compared with other research findings to assess the gender balance among CAOs.The research findings contribute significantly to the scholarship on gender equality in Canadian local government leadership. This research paper offers insight for students, practitioners, and municipal leaders seeking to understand and promote equality in senior administrative positions. This research aims to contribute to existing research on systemic inequality in local government and understand the importance of a more inclusive and diverse leadership landscape

Examining the Regulation of Negative Affect within a Multi-dimensional Framework in Six Month Old Infants

The measures of multiple dimensions of expressed negative affect and putative behavioral strategies of regulation in the current study afforded the opportunity to examine early regulation of negative affect within a multi-dimensional framework of emotion. The purpose of the current study was to first describe the dynamic, multi-dimensional nature of expressed negative affect and the use of behavioral strategies of regulation. The study then investigated the relationships between the various dimensions of negative affect and behavioral strategies of regulation, as well as the influence of temperament and the care-giving context on early emotion regulation Participants of the study included 129 six-month-old infants from the Durham Child and Health Study. As part of this study, infants' expressions of negative affect and their use of behavioral strategies of regulation were observed during the still-face procedure. Measures of temperament were obtained via mother report on the Infant Behavior Questionnaire, while measures of maternal sensitivity were obtained during observations of a free play session. Maternal ethnicity and level of education were obtained through questionnaires. While the results demonstrated that there was considerable variability in the expression of negative affect across the multiple dimensions, there was only a modest indication that a multi-dimensional framework was important. There was some degree of evidence that the dimensions may combine to form stylistic response to challenging situations, which may, in turn, influence an infants regulatory efforts. The use of three behavioral strategies (object play, reaching, and venting) differentiated between identified stylistic responses to the still-face. Results from the study also suggest that maternal ethnicity and maternal education were important predictors for expressed negative affect, but not for the use of behavioral strategies of regulation. Generally, infants with African-American mothers displayed less intense negative affect, for shorter durations, and with less lability. Furthermore, infants whose mothers reported lower levels of education expressed negative affect for longer durations with a shorter speed of onset than infants whose mothers reported higher levels of education. Importantly, these predictors were differentially related to the four separate dimension of negative affect, which provides limited support of a multi-dimensional conceptualization of negative affect and emotion regulation.Doctor of Philosoph

Elementary Teachers\u27 Affective Relationship with Mathematics and its Influence on Mathematics Instruction

In a South Carolina school district, approximately 45% of 3rd-5th grade students performed poorly on the state mathematics test. K-5 teachers attended district training to improve mathematics instruction and content mastery, but the training omitted teachers\u27 affective domain in teaching. Teachers\u27 affective relationships with mathematics (ARM) affects content delivery, instructional decisions, and teachers\u27 confidence levels and motivation. The purpose of this sequential mixed methods study was to investigate whether teachers\u27 years of experience, grade levels taught, or past mathematics experiences influenced K-5 teachers\u27 ARM, as measured by the ARM survey, and to explore teachers\u27 perceptions of their ARM in instruction. Bandura\u27s theory of self-efficacy framed this study. A representative sample of 160 K-5 mathematics teachers in 11 schools completed surveys. A purposeful sample of 9 teachers with high, medium, or low ARM index were interviewed. One-way ANOVA tests determined there was no statistical significant difference between teachers\u27 ARM index and years of experience or grade level. Simple linear regression determined there was a statistical significant difference between teachers\u27 ARM and past mathematics experiences. Interview data were analyzed thematically using open, axial, and thematic coding strategies. Teachers revealed that their perceived past mathematics experiences and collaboration influenced their ARM and instruction. Based on the findings, a 3-day workshop was created to improve teachers\u27 ARM featuring reflection on teachers\u27 past mathematics experiences and collaboration. This endeavor may contribute to positive social change if district leaders assist teachers to improve their confidence in mathematics instruction and instructional decision making; thus, improving student mathematics achievement

Selection models with monotone weight functions in meta analysis

Publication bias, the fact that studies identified for inclusion in a meta analysis do not represent all studies on the topic of interest, is commonly recognized as a threat to the validity of the results of a meta analysis. One way to explicitly model publication bias is via selection models or weighted probability distributions. We adopt the nonparametric approach initially introduced by Dear (1992) but impose that the weight function $w$ is monotonely non-increasing as a function of the $p$-value. Since in meta analysis one typically only has few studies or "observations", regularization of the estimation problem seems sensible. In addition, virtually all parametric weight functions proposed so far in the literature are in fact decreasing. We discuss how to estimate a decreasing weight function in the above model and illustrate the new methodology on two well-known examples. The new approach potentially offers more insight in the selection process than other methods and is more flexible than parametric approaches. Some basic properties of the log-likelihood function and computation of a $p$-value quantifying the evidence against the null hypothesis of a constant weight function are indicated. In addition, we provide an approximate selection bias adjusted profile likelihood confidence interval for the treatment effect. The corresponding software and the datasets used to illustrate it are provided as the R package selectMeta. This enables full reproducibility of the results in this paper.Comment: 15 pages, 2 figures. Some minor changes according to reviewer comment

Reliability and Validity of the Adapter COPE Scale with Deaf College Students

The purpose of the current study was to investigate the reliability and validity of the Adapted Coping Operations Preference Enquiry (COPE) Scale with deaf college students. The Adapted COPE identifies15 strategies for managing stresors. 117 deaf college students from Gallaudet University, between the ages of 18 and 25, participated in the present study. When used with this sample, the majority of the Adapted COPE subscales evidenced high or moderate internal consistency reliability, except for the Mental Disengagement and Active Coping subscales. To investigate structural validity, principle component analysis was conducted utilizing quartimax rotation. Initial analyses retained 17 factors and failed to replicate the intended subscale structure of the measure. Post-hoc t-tests indicated that responses to the Original COPE by hearing participants and the Adapted COPE by deaf participants were largely similar, except for the Substance Use subscale, with significantly higher mean scores in the deaf sample. This suggests that the psychometric analyses of the original COPE scale indicate a need for additional restructuring of the measure

Fermionic Molecular Dynamics for nuclear dynamics and thermodynamics

A new Fermionic Molecular Dynamics (FMD) model based on a Skyrme functional is proposed in this paper. After introducing the basic formalism, some first applications to nuclear structure and nuclear thermodynamics are presentedComment: 5 pages, Proceedings of the French-Japanese Symposium, September 2008. To be published in Int. J. of Mod. Phys.

Leadership in research for development series : brief 3

French version available in IDRC Digital Library: Modalités de financement pour le renforcement organisationnel dans la recherche pour le développementFunding modalities that enable organizational strengthening typically include core funding, flexible research grants and strategic organizational development (OD) support programs. These modalities have demonstrated contributions to higher-quality research, better positioning for use, networking and partnerships, while facilitating internal learning processes. This policy brief covers how to fund for organizational strengthening. Feedback from two IDRC evaluations suggested for instance, that tailored support from program officers emerged as a more important factor for effectiveness than the provision of support for any specific length of time

Leadership en matière de recherche pour le développement : document de synthèse 2

English version available in IDRC Digital Library: Integrating organizational strengthening into program design : key questions for consideratio

Leadership in research for development series : brief 4

French version available in IDRC Digital Library: Qui sont les leaders de demain? : aborder l'égalité des genres et l'inclusion dans le leadershipFunders have a key role to play in ensuring that gender and inclusion considerations form part of selection criteria, team composition, project design, implementation and engagement. This brief explores how to address gender equality and inclusion in supporting research for development (R4D) leaders at both individual and organizational levels. This requires an understanding of who has traditionally participated in the field, which groups are underrepresented and the challenges marginalized groups may face. Explicit strategies are needed to support a diversity of emerging leaders, as well as target setting for engaging researchers from marginalized backgrounds