Nonprofit Sustainability: How Does Departure of a Founding Leader Impact Outcomes?

There is a high failure rate among local community-based nonprofit human service organizations in New York State, which may lead to service gaps in communities. Increasing sustainability may reduce these gaps and allow nonprofits to continue following the first leadership transition. Using McGregor\u27s human resource theory as the guide, the purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the relationship between leadership succession planning and how departure of founding leaders impacts the sustainability of nonprofits. Data were collected through interviews with 16 leaders that included departing founding leaders, successors, and 2 board members in 4 local community-based nonprofit human service organizations in New York State, regarding the impact of the founder\u27s departure on (a) leadership, (b) motivation, (c) teamwork, (d) power balance, (e) work environment, and (f) organizational change. Interview data were inductively coded and analyzed using a thematic analysis procedure. The results yielded 4 thematic elements that contributed to successful outcomes: (a) strengthening accountability to balance power, (b) individual versus collaborative leadership to increase shared governance, (c) assessing and developing competencies to efficiently use human resources, and (d) ability to conceptualize change and plan for the future. The results of this research study may help to contribute to positive social change by offering the leaders of local community-based nonprofit human service organizations strategies to sustain their organizational culture during and following their first leadership transition, involving the departure of the founder, allowing the organizations to continue to contribute positively to the community

Mindfulness-Based Therapy and Behavioral Activation: A Randomized Controlled Trial with Depressed College Students

Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is found in about 20% of university students, with increasing incidence in the past two decades (American College Health Association, 2010). Depressed college students report significant academic problems, including lower grade point average, inability to concentrate, absenteeism, lower academic productivity, and interpersonal problems. Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and Behavioral Activation (BA) are two interventions that have significant potential in meeting demands of college counseling clinics insofar as treating depressed college students. This study utilized a randomized controlled design (n = 50) to examine the efficacy of four-sessions of abbreviated MBSR and BA relative to a no-treatment control condition with depressed college students. Results suggested both treatments were efficacious compared to the wait-list control group, there was strong therapist competence and adherence to protocols, and there were significant pre-post treatment gains across a breadth of outcome measures assessing depression, rumination, stress, and mindfulness. However, neither treatment effectively reduced self-reported somatic anxiety. Across both treatments, gains were associated with strong effect sizes, and based on response and remission criteria, approximately 56-79% of patients exhibited clinically significant improvement. There were no significant differences in outcomes as a function of active intervention at post-treatment, and treatment gains largely were maintained at 1-month follow-up. Study limitations and implications for the assessment and treatment of depressed college students are discussed

Dynamic Range Compression in the Honey Bee Auditory System toward Waggle Dance Sounds

Honey bee foragers use a “waggle dance” to inform nestmates about direction and distance to locations of attractive food. The sound and air flows generated by dancer's wing and abdominal vibrations have been implicated as important cues, but the decoding mechanisms for these dance messages are poorly understood. To understand the neural mechanisms of honey bee dance communication, we analyzed the anatomy of antenna and Johnston's organ (JO) in the pedicel of the antenna, as well as the mechanical and neural response characteristics of antenna and JO to acoustic stimuli, respectively. The honey bee JO consists of about 300–320 scolopidia connected with about 48 cuticular “knobs” around the circumference of the pedicel. Each scolopidium contains bipolar sensory neurons with both type I and II cilia. The mechanical sensitivities of the antennal flagellum are specifically high in response to low but not high intensity stimuli of 265–350 Hz frequencies. The structural characteristics of antenna but not JO neurons seem to be responsible for the non-linear responses of the flagellum in contrast to mosquito and fruit fly. The honey bee flagellum is a sensitive movement detector responding to 20 nm tip displacement, which is comparable to female mosquito. Furthermore, the JO neurons have the ability to preserve both frequency and temporal information of acoustic stimuli including the “waggle dance” sound. Intriguingly, the response of JO neurons was found to be age-dependent, demonstrating that the dance communication is only possible between aged foragers. These results suggest that the matured honey bee antennae and JO neurons are best tuned to detect 250–300 Hz sound generated during “waggle dance” from the distance in a dark hive, and that sufficient responses of the JO neurons are obtained by reducing the mechanical sensitivity of the flagellum in a near-field of dancer. This nonlinear effect brings about dynamic range compression in the honey bee auditory system

BIOLOGY OF THE SHAWNEE CAVE SPIDERS

Volume: 19Start Page: 303End Page: 32

A study in the use of physical manipulatives with college level mathematics students

Abstract not availabl