The Influence of Trust and Affective Organizational Commitment on Intent to Leave

As global competition has increased and organizations have become more competitive, a reliance on knowledge workers for innovation, initiative, and commitment is necessary. Having the ability to predict personnel intent to leave (ITL) provides business leaders the opportunity to reduce turnover and retain institutional knowledge. In the current study, a structural equation model was used to examine the degree to which organizational trust and commitment, as correlated variables, predicted ITL. Organizational citizenship behavior, social exchange, and organizational commitment theories formed the theoretical basis for the study. Data were gathered using online surveys from 423 participants at 5 financial institutions located in the southeastern United States. The 3 merged surveys---organizational trust index, affective organizational commitment scale, and intent to leave survey---had strong psychometric properties. Results from the analysis produced a structural equation model and measurement model with strong fit indices that provided a significant means of estimating ITL. These results may have applicability for financial institutions to predict employee turnover (as measured by ITL). Early implementation of interventions by management will improve the retention of key talent through focus on organizational commitment and trust. Such interventions could, in turn, facilitate even broader social change through more open and honest human resource practices that exhibit enhanced concern for employee well-being

Survival of juvenile queen conch, Strombus gigas, in natural habitats: Impact of prey, predator and habitat features

In this dissertation, I experimentally examine predation-induced mortality upon juvenile queen conch, Strombus gigas, and assess the importance of select habitat predator and conch characteristics affecting predation intensity. Experiments were conducted during the summer and early fall of 1987, 1988, 1990 and 1991 in seagrass beds and adjacent sand flats near Lee Stocking Island, Exuma Cays, Bahamas. These experiments indicate that various factors act interactively to produce habitat-specific mortality rates in queen conch due to predation. These include (1) habitat type, whereby seagrass beds offer some protection; (2) local population dynamics, such that populated seagrass beds appear to enhance conch survival; (3) population density in some seagrass beds, such that mortality is inversely density-dependent; (4) conch size, such that larger conch have higher survival rates, depending on the specific type of habitat; and (5) predation intensity and predator guilds, which likely differ across habitats, producing habitat-specific mortality rates. When integrated with complementary studies of queen conch trophodynamics, these results provide critical information regarding key ecological factors affecting conch survival. In particular, results from the hatchery-reared experiments demonstrate the potential use of hatchery-reared stocks in natural habitats, and hence a valuable option for enhancement of fishery stocks throughout the Caribbean. In general, the integration of results obtained in this dissertation, with complementary studies of queen conch trophodynamics, should provide valuable suggestions of queen conch habitats, densities and scales of patchiness producing highest survivorship and growth rates in nature

Perceptions of Bermudian Leaders About the Philosophies, Major Purposes, and Effectiveness of the Public School System in Bermuda Since 1987

This is a study of the perceptions, philosophies, purpose, and effectiveness of public education in Bermuda. It includes a purposeful sample of Bermuda leaders in education, government, business, and public life. I prepared a series of questions that I used as an interview guide to obtain the opinions of participants in the study. Most participants did not provide specific information about the official philosophy, major purposes, or specific educational outcomes of the public education system since its restructuring began in 1987. Many indicated their frustration about the lack of such basic data as enrollment, graduation, and dropout rates. Nearly all interviewees (except those staff members from the Ministry of Education) agreed that the effectiveness of public schools has declined dramatically in recent years. Other findings include: Leadership in the Ministry of Education and the Department of Education has been bureaucratic and incompetent; Governmental funding of public schools has been very high, but much money has been wasted; Some public middle and secondary school principals have performed poorly, at least partly because of inadequate leadership and communication from the Ministry of Education and the Department of Education; Major problems exist regarding curriculum misalignment, teachers’ qualifications and performance, services of school counselors, lack of parental involvement in the schools, and classification and instruction of students with cognitive, physical, and emotional disabilities; and Major changes are needed to overcome existing problems, including dismissal of the least effective individuals in the Department of Education and in individual schools

S-band omnidirectional antenna for the SERT-C satellite

The program to design an S-band omnidirectional antenna system for the SERT-C spacecraft is discussed. The program involved the tasks of antenna analyses by computer techniques, scale model radiation pattern measurements of a number of antenna systems, full-scale RF measurements, and the recommended design, including detailed drawings. A number of antenna elements were considered: the cavity-backed spiral, quadrifilar helix, and crossed-dipoles were chosen for in-depth studies. The final design consisted of a two-element array of cavity-backed spirals mounted on opposite sides of spacecraft and fed in-phase through a hybrid junction. This antenna system meets the coverage requirement of having a gain of at least minus 10 dBi over 50 percent of a 4 pi steradian sphere with the solar panels in operation. This coverage level is increased if the ground station has the capability to change polarization

Adversary Juvenile Delinquency Proceedings: Impeachment of Juvenile Defendants by the Use of Previous Adjudications of Delinquency

IN ADULT CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS, any defendant who wishes to testify\u27 faces certain risks when he steps into the witness box. The risks such a defendant engenders certainly include the possibility of having his prior criminal convictions brought up by the prosecution, for purposes of impeaching his testimony. In essence, the defendant who takes the stand, like any other witness, places his reputation for truth and veracity into issue. The theory behind this general rule emanates from the belief that the defendant\u27s testimony can be no more credible than the defendant himself. Therefore, the prosecution is given the right, under certain limitations, to attack the credibility of the defendant and his testimony by inquiring into his past criminal conduct

Backscatter and spontaneous four-wave mixing in micro-ring resonators

We model backscatter for electric fields propagating through optical micro-ring resonators, as occurring both in-ring and in-coupler. These provide useful tools for modelling transmission and in-ring fields in these optical devices. We then discuss spontaneous four-wave mixing and use the models to obtain heralding efficiencies and rates. We observe a trade-off between these, which becomes more extreme as the rings become more strongly backscattered

Psychometric evaluation of the SF-36 health survey in Medicare managed care

Data quality and scoring assumptions for the SF-36 Health Survey were evaluated among the elderly and disabled, using 1998 Cohort I baseline Medicare HOS data (n=177,714). Missing data rates were low, and scoring assumptions were met. Internal consistency reliability was 0.83 to 0.93 for the eight scales and 0.94 and 0.89, respectively, for the physical (PCS) and mental (MCS) component summary measures. Results declined with increased risk factors (e.g., older age, more chronic conditions), but were well above accepted standards for all subgroups. These findings support using standard algorithms for scoring the SF-36 in the HOS and subgroup analyses of HOS data

Dynamics of Enceladus and Dione inside the 2:1 Mean-Motion Resonance under Tidal Dissipation

In a previous work (Callegari and Yokoyama 2007, Celest. Mech. Dyn. Astr. vol. 98), the main features of the motion of the pair Enceladus-Dione were analyzed in the frozen regime, i.e., without considering the tidal evolution. Here, the results of a great deal of numerical simulations of a pair of satellites similar to Enceladus and Dione crossing the 2:1 mean-motion resonance are shown. The resonance crossing is modeled with a linear tidal theory, considering a two-degrees-of-freedom model written in the framework of the general three-body planar problem. The main regimes of motion of the system during the passage through resonance are studied in detail. We discuss our results comparing them with classical scenarios of tidal evolution of the system. We show new scenarios of evolution of the Enceladus-Dione system through resonance not shown in previous approaches of the problem.Comment: 36 pages, 12 figures. Accepted in Celestial Mechanics and Dynamical Astronom

A genetically engineered thermally responsive sustained release curcumin depot to treat neuroinflammation.

Radiculopathy, a painful neuroinflammation that can accompany intervertebral disc herniation, is associated with locally increased levels of the pro-inflammatory cytokine tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα). Systemic administration of TNF antagonists for radiculopathy in the clinic has shown mixed results, and there is growing interest in the local delivery of anti-inflammatory drugs to treat this pathology as well as similar inflammatory events of peripheral nerve injury. Curcumin, a known antagonist of TNFα in multiple cell types and tissues, was chemically modified and conjugated to a thermally responsive elastin-like polypeptide (ELP) to create an injectable depot for sustained, local delivery of curcumin to treat neuroinflammation. ELPs are biopolymers capable of thermally-triggered in situ depot formation that have been successfully employed as drug carriers and biomaterials in several applications. ELP-curcumin conjugates were shown to display high drug loading, rapidly release curcumin in vitro via degradable carbamate bonds, and retain in vitro bioactivity against TNFα-induced cytotoxicity and monocyte activation with IC50 only two-fold higher than curcumin. When injected proximal to the sciatic nerve in mice via intramuscular (i.m.) injection, ELP-curcumin conjugates underwent a thermally triggered soluble-insoluble phase transition, leading to in situ formation of a depot that released curcumin over 4days post-injection and decreased plasma AUC 7-fold

Effect of dietary omega-3 fatty acid deficiency on heart rate variability in hooded rats

Introduction: Recent reports in adult humans suggest that heart rate variability is modulated by the concentration of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) contained in blood cell membranes. Material and methods: Hurst analysis of ECG data was conducted on 12 male adult hooded (Long-Evans) rats, representing the 3rd generation to be fed diets that were either deficient in, or supplemented with, omega-3 PUFA. ECG data were obtained from surface electrodes and 4000 beats were analyzed for each animal. Results: Dietary manipulation, despite leading to large changes in tissue omega- 3 PUFA levels, did not significantly affect the complexity of heart rate dynamics, with Hurst exponent (H) values of 0.15&plusmn;0.02 and 0.12&plusmn;0.03, for animals fed omega- 3 fatty acid-adequate and -deficient diets, respectively. Mean heart rate was also unaffected by the diets. A power calculation revealed that about one hundred animals per group would have been required to avoid a type II error. Conclusions: According to this model of dietary PUFA manipulation, omega-3 fatty acids are unlikely to exert a large effect on the autonomic functions that control heart rate variability. Prospective studies into the effect of omega-3 fatty acids on HRV should consider the need for large sample size as estimated by the results contained in this report.<br /