The telephone years : the relationship between adolescent telephone use and parent-adolescent conflict : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University

While almost no published research has been completed on adolescent telephone use, it has been found that adolescents report their telephone use to be an area of conflict with their parents Data was collected from 160 adolescent high school students aged around 14 years and some (88) of their parents/caregivers, using a questionnaire designed by the researcher. The results showed that female adolescents had more telephone use and more parent-adolescent conflict than did male adolescents. Both males and parents of both males and females reported that telephone use was strongly related to parent-adolescent conflict, but female adolescents did not report such a relationship. We can conclude that telephone conflict is seen in males, but is only a source of conflict in females as viewed by parents. Further, when males use the telephone it is correlated with the independence they desire, but telephone use has no parallel relationship with independence for females. However, high adolescent telephone use is related to the control a parent would like to have over the telephone, most especially for female telephone users. When females were independent and parents wanted to control their daughters telephone use, conflict levels were high. In contrast, conflict levels were high for parents and their sons when males wanted independence because parents had control of their telephone use

Revised time-of-flight calculations for high-latitude geomagnetic pulsations using a realistic magnetospheric magnetic field model

We present a simple time-of-flight analysis of Alfvén pulsations standing on closed terrestrial magnetic field lines. The technique employed in this study in order to calculate the characteristic period of such oscillations builds upon earlier time-of-flight estimates via the implementation of a more recent magnetospheric magnetic field model. In this case the model employed is the Tsyganenko (1996) field model, which includes realistic magnetospheric currents and the consequences of the partial penetration of the interplanetary magnetic field into the dayside magnetopause. By employing a simple description of magnetospheric plasma density, we are therefore able to estimate the period of standing Alfvén waves on geomagnetic field lines over a significantly wider range of latitudes and magnetic local times than in previous studies. Furthermore, we investigate the influence of changing season and upstream interplanetary conditions upon the period of such pulsations. Finally, the eigenfrequencies of magnetic field lines computed by the time-of-flight technique are compared with corresponding numerical solutions to the wave equation and experimentally observed pulsations on geomagnetic field lines

Managerial Incentives and the Valuation of International Joint Venture Formation

Strategic management decisions and actions involving international joint venture formations are significant to many firms and have major economic consequences. Previous empirical evidence on the effects of joint venture formation announcements on shareholder wealth reveals that firm value is more often positively impacted. However, many previous analyses of shareholder wealth from joint venture formations do not fully explore cross-sectional differences in managerial incentives to pursue these international investments. The primary purpose of this study is to exploit these cross-sectional differences using agency theory to explain managerial behavior and subsequent shareholder effects. This study capitalizes on agency theory’s notion that managers are not necessarily motivated solely by the maximization of firm value, but instead are interested in maximizing their own utility. The study’s findings are consistent with agency theoretic hypotheses based on a broad cross-section of international joint ventures. Results demonstrate that shareholder returns to international joint venture formation exhibit considerable variability and, importantly, are at least partially explained by cross-sectional differences in agency incentives. Specifically, returns to shareholders are positively related to the level of managerial ownership and inversely related to the level of free cash flow. Moreover, a positive relation is found between shareholder returns and the joint interaction between leverage and free cash flow. These findings indicate that the effect of international joint venture formation on shareholder value is not uniform and, more importantly is at least partly influenced by managers’ agency incentives

Investigation of hallmark epigenetic changes in a cancer stem cell model

Epigenetic control of gene expression is vital for normal development and differentiation of cells, and is also important in the development of disease. In particular, there is a strong association between hallmark epigenetic changes and cancer – namely, genome wide hypomethylation, gene specific hypermethylation and characteristic histone modification. Almost all studies of cancer epigenetics to date have been conducted in malignant tissues or already transformed cell lines, and therefore do not take into account epigenetic changes occurring during the process of transformation. Our lab has developed a line of primary mesenchymal stem cells (MSC; thought to be the origin of various types of sarcoma) in which five oncogenic steps towards a fully transformed state are sequentially introduced including: human telomerase, necessary to extend the life span of MSC in culture, genes to inactivate the p53 and pRb tumour suppressor genes and genes to activate the oncogenes c-Myc and Ras. I hypothesized that hallmark epigenetic changes take place in this step-wise model of transformation, and aimed to investigate genome wide hypomethylation and the activity of the polycomb repressive 2 (PRC2) complex in this system. Utilizing the PCR based technique MethyLight, I show that transformed MSC are hypomethylated compared to parental MSC, with this decrease in methylation occurring on the introduction of oncogenic H-Ras in the final step. I also show that this hypomethylation is a gradual event following H-Ras expression, and transformation can take place in the absence of hypomethylation. I demonstrate that the three core components of the PRC2 complex are up-regulated during step-wise transformation and that PRC2 target genes are down-regulated. Finally, I show that MSC are able to be transformed when the PRC2 components EZH2 and SUZ12 are knocked down before the final oncogenic hit. These studies show that hallmark epigenetic changes occur during step-wise transformation and suggest that tumour-associated epigenetic changes occur following genetic aberrations. This model is valuable and relevant to further explore the mechanisms behind epigenetic alterations in cancer

Jacobean Textile Design: Surviving (and Thriving) Through the Test of Time

Jacobean textile design sprang from the Tree of Life motif, an ancient design that carried religious symbolism for many early cultures. It represented a greater power and as such could provide protection and even fertility. When trade routes opened up between the East and West in the early 17th century, Europeans were eager for items made in the East and in particular for textiles from India embellished with The Tree of Life. This increase in trade provided a booming time for commerce. During the reign of James I in the early 1600’s, the English designers added their own creative touches to the Tree of Life, enhancing it with large, outrageous, exotic flowers, and highly designed leaves. Thus was born the Jacobean textile design. The textiles being imported into Europe from the East were expensive and therefore largely limited to the wealthy. As a result, textiles were often status symbols and considered to have considerable value, however, as technology advanced and textiles could be mass-produced more affordably, they became available to people of all economic groups. Over the years other artists, such as William Morris, have gained inspiration from the Jacobean textile design and made their own interpretations of it as well. Today, its complex arrangements of winding vines and fantasy flowers remain a popular design in home furnishings and other products

Work-related stress factors affecting the community college dean

Community college deans support and guide the educational efforts of the community college. This middle manager, charged with productive interaction among students, faculty, and administration, is faced regularly with complex decisions. Furthermore, the dean is challenged today with reduced resources, expanded demands from students, and increased accountability from governing bodies and constituencies. Community college deans are under great stress as they strive to meet the mission of the community college and guide the institution into the future.;Due to the complexity and multiple pressures of the position, it is important to identify the causes of stress for the deans. If stressors can be identified, steps can be taken to manage the effect of these stressors on the deans.;In 2000, a national survey was completed and data compiled from 324 deans. Individuals who hold first-line administrative positions without teaching responsibilities were identified as the desired respondents for this survey. Personal, professional, and institutional data were collected and a 41-item Community College Dean\u27s Stress Inventory was completed as part of the survey.;The items of the stress inventory were analyzed using principal component analysis to determine major stress factors. Nine factors emerged. The stress factor that was identified as the first of these nine factors included items that indicate interactions with supervisors and the organizational culture cause the greatest amount of stress for the deans. In a second phase of the research, selected independent variables were examined to determine their impact on the stress factors.;Implications for the research are to provide current knowledge about the profile of a community college dean and the factors that cause stress in this position. Little research about the community college dean is available in the published literature. Data gathered from this survey are intended to expand understanding of the dean\u27s position and the stress factors he or she encounters. For each community college, this knowledge will enable the college, supervisors, and dean in recognizing and managing the stress-causing elements of the dean\u27s job and enhance the dean\u27s success

Modeling and visualizing uncertainty in gene expression clusters using Dirichlet process mixtures

Although the use of clustering methods has rapidly become one of the standard computational approaches in the literature of microarray gene expression data, little attention has been paid to uncertainty in the results obtained. Dirichlet process mixture (DPM) models provide a nonparametric Bayesian alternative to the bootstrap approach to modeling uncertainty in gene expression clustering. Most previously published applications of Bayesian model-based clustering methods have been to short time series data. In this paper, we present a case study of the application of nonparametric Bayesian clustering methods to the clustering of high-dimensional nontime series gene expression data using full Gaussian covariances. We use the probability that two genes belong to the same cluster in a DPM model as a measure of the similarity of these gene expression profiles. Conversely, this probability can be used to define a dissimilarity measure, which, for the purposes of visualization, can be input to one of the standard linkage algorithms used for hierarchical clustering. Biologically plausible results are obtained from the Rosetta compendium of expression profiles which extend previously published cluster analyses of this data