Psychological Sense Of Community And Retention: Rethinking The First-year Experience Of Students In Stem

This investigation looks at the relationship between a STEM learning community\u27s co-curricular activities and students\u27 perceived sense of community (SOC)to determine which activities most influence SOC and, in turn, retention. This investigation shows that SOC can be impacted by a multitude of factors found within the college environment. The most influential of these factors are open acceptance, student academic support services, and residential experiences. Most importantly there were significant differences for African American students participating in the STEM learning community on the measures of SOC, retention, and being on-track in mathematics. Additional data suggested higher levels of being on-track in mathematics for male students and differences in retention and being on-track for Hispanic students participating in a STEM learning community

Discharge of Supervisors for Union-Related Activity: An Examination of Pattern of Conduct Analysis

Recent Board decisions such as Brothers Three Cabinets suggest that the Board has frequently contravened congressional intent by extending the protection of the Act to cover supervisors. This Note begins with an examination of the legislative history of the Taft-Hartley Amendments, focusing upon the congressional intent behind the exclusion of supervisory personnel from the protection normally afforded employees under the Act. The Note then traces the historical development of supervisory discharge law and analyzes the development of the pattern of conduct standard. Finally, the Note investigates the inherent analytical problems with the pattern of conduct standard, examines the inconsistent application of the standard, and criticizes the theoretical underpinnings of the standard. The Note concludes that the Board should abandon the pattern of conduct paradigm and return to the traditional directly affect test to determine whether a supervisor should be reinstated after discharge for union-related activities

The Canine Behaviour Type Index

While working intensively with companion dogs it emerged that certain behavior types present particular management challenges in a domestic setting. Gosling, Kwan, John & Oliver validated the concept of dogs having a distinct measurable personality type (Gosling, Kwan, John, Oliver 2003 A Dog's Got Personality: A Cross-Species Comparative Approach to Personality Judgments in Dogs and Humans Journal of Personality & Social Psychology. 2003 Dec Vol 85(6) 1161-1169). Our team (Pet Connect) developed The Canine Behavior Type Index (CBTI) (Patent Pending) typing companion dogs into 12 distinct profiles. There are 3 psychological dimensions: (1) Environmental Order (either Organized or Spontaneous); (2) Social Order (either Alpha, Beta, or Gamma); (3) Motivation (either Medium or High) giving 12 possible outcomes. The CBTI is not breed specific though breeds may cluster around particular profiles. Questions were administered to 50 volunteer pet dog owners with 1-3 dogs each. Each owner played a board game in solitude. The board game has twenty-six two-sided cards with opposing statements about the dog. The owner selects the most appropriate statement about their dog. There were nine cards for each of the Environmental Order and Motivation dimensions, and eight for the Social Order dimension. The CBTI type was decided according to a majority of answers, then the corresponding CBTI printed profile given to the owner. The owner filled in a questionnaire about the perceived accuracy of the CBTI printed profile to their companion dog. In preliminary statistical analysis, the owner perceived accuracy ranged from 70-100 percent. The person administering the test was a Veterinary Behaviorist who also typed each dog independently of the owner, based on behavioral questions and observations. The correlation between the owners and the researcher's selected CBTI type is P is less than .01. The CBTI recognizes that certain canine psychological profiles best suit specific tasks and lifestyles. A behavior management plan was tailored to meet the specific needs of each CBTI profile. Each dog requires exercise, deference, environmental enrichment, rapport and respect exercises, though the relative importance and style of each exercise depends on the dog's CBTI profile