Relationships Between Educators\u27 Organizational Commitment, Job Satisfaction, and Administrators\u27 Gender

The purpose of this quantitative, causal-comparative study was to examine the differences between teachers\u27 mean job satisfaction scores based on the administrators\u27 gender and examine the relationship between the administrators\u27 gender and teachers\u27 organizational commitment plans in Tennessee middle schools. Job satisfaction and organizational commitment was measured by the Tennessee Teaching, Empowering, Leading and Learning (TELL) Survey that was administered online and completed by Tennessee teachers voluntarily and anonymously. A stratified random selection of schools based on the administrator\u27s gender (female, n = 85; male, n = 85) was selected (N = 170) from those achieving the predetermined response criteria of 50% return rate. Schools where the principal had been in position for less than three years were excluded. A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was used to analyze the association between the dependent variable, job satisfaction, based on the independent variable, administrators\u27 gender. Pearson\u27s chi-square analysis was used to analyze the relationship between administrators\u27 gender and teachers\u27 organizational commitment plans in education. Significance was with the implications for increased gender awareness, teacher commitment and satisfaction, and teacher retention

Smile and Carry On: Canadian Cavalry on the Western Front, 1914-1918

Although the First World War has been characterized as a formative event in Canadian History, little attention has been paid to a neglected and often forgotten arm of the Canadian Expeditionary Force, the Cavalry. The vast majority of Great War historians have ignored the presence of mounted troops on the Western Front, or have written off the entire cavalry arm with a single word – ‘obsolete.’ However, the Canadian Cavalry Brigade and the Canadian Light Horse remained on the Western Front throughout the Great War because cavalry still had a role to play in modern warfare. This thesis addresses the expected role of Cavalry in the Great War, and the role that Canadian Cavalry was able to play on the Western Front between 1914 and 1918. Cavalry was an arm of exploitation and protection. The primary responsibilities assigned to the mounted arm were reconnaissance, shock, and pursuit. Cavalry was never expected to perform mass charges through entrenchments. Rather, it was expected to use its superior mobility to perform reconnaissance, delaying actions, and pursue the retreating enemy. Cavalry also had several important roles to play in rear areas, such as traffic control, escort duties, mounted police work, and any duties that required the mobility of a mounted force. A thorough examination of the role of cavalry in operations and in reserve reveals that Canadian Cavalry was able to perform as expected on the Western Front according to prewar doctrine. When mobility was possible, Cavalry was tactically effective on a local scale, conducting pursuit, delay, and reconnaissance with great effect. When the Front was stagnant, cavalry was still capable of fulfilling its intended role in rear areas. Cavalry was valuable on the Western Front because of its superior mobility, as mounted troops were capable of arriving at a decisive point of action quickly without exhausting men or resources, and could advance where other vehicles could not. Despite conditions on the modern battlefield, Canadian Cavalry still had a role to play on the Western Front

On the Classification of Vertex-Transitive Structures

We consider the classification problem for several classes of countable structures which are “vertex-transitive”, meaning that the automorphism group acts transitively on the elements. (This is sometimes called homogeneous.) We show that the classification of countable vertex-transitive digraphs and partial orders are Borel complete. We identify the complexity of the classification of countable vertex-transitive linear orders. Finally we show that the classification of vertex-transitive countable tournaments is properly above E0 in complexity

Classification of Vertex-Transitive Structures

When one thinks of objects with a significant level of symmetry it is natural to expect there to be a simple classification. However, this leads to an interesting problem in that research has revealed the existence of highly symmetric objects which are very complex when considered within the framework of Borel complexity. The tension between these two seemingly contradictory notions leads to a wealth of natural questions which have yet to be answered. Borel complexity theory is an area of logic where the relative complexities of classification problems are studied. Within this theory, we regard a classification problem as an equivalence relation on a Polish space. An example of such is the isomorphism relation on the class of countable groups. The notion of a Borel reduction allows one to compare complexities of various classification problems. The central aim of this research is determine the Borel complexities of various classes of vertex-transitive structures, or structures for which every pair or elements are equivalent under some element of its automorphism group. John Clemens has shown that the class of vertex-transitive graphs has maximum possible complexity, namely Borel completeness. On the other hand, we show that the class of vertex-transitive linear orderings does not. We explore this phenomenon further by considering other natural classes of vertex-transitive structures such as tournaments and partial orderings. In doing so, we discover that several other complexities arise for classes of vertex-transitive structures

Navigating the Winds of Change: Licensing, Registration, and Regulatory Overlay for Wind Farms and Associated Transmission in Texas

The State of Texas leads the United States in wind energy generation capacity—it has more than twice the wind generation capacity of the next-closest state, California. If Texas was an independent nation, it would rank sixth in the world in total installed wind capacity. Texas has a rich history of legislation and regulatory effort to thank for these statistics, which reflects the knowledge that energy and infrastructure drive the economy. Starting in 1999, Texas became one of the first states to enact a Renewable Portfolio Standard (“RPS”). The RPS set a state-wide goal for new renewable energy installation with deadlines for when that goal was to be met. In addition to passing an RPS, Texas also created Competitive Renewable Energy Zones (“CREZs”). CREZs are areas of Texas that have been designated by the Public Utility Commission of Texas (“PUCT”) to receive special benefits for wind transmission and development due to their strong wind resources and large financial commitments in the region by wind developers. These programs, and several others, have helped the wind industry in Texas grow exponentially to continually reach the goals set out by the RPS long before deadlines arrive. In fact, on a recent day towards the end of March, wind generation accounted for 29% of the electricity used by most Texans

Towards marine tourism management recommendations for the wrecks of HMS Erebus and HMS Terror National Historic Site, Nunavut, Canada

Over the last 25 years, climate change-induced increases in open water have led to a dramatic environmental and social transformation in the Canadian Arctic (Dawson, Pizzolato et al., 2018; Johnston, Viken et al., 2012). Increasing numbers of tourists aboard cruise ships and pleasure craft now venture farther into Canada’s Arctic waterways seeking unique natural and cultural experiences (Dawson et al., 2018; Johnston, Dawson, & Maher, 2017; Stewart & Draper, 2008; Stewart et al., 2007, 2019). While tourism growth presents important opportunities for the region, it is not void of challenges. This research examined marine tourism management concerns in relation to the recent discovery of the Franklin shipwrecks in shallow waters of the Northwest Passage. It is anticipated that the wrecks of HMS Erebus and HMS Terror will become a popular tourist attraction, leading to the need to explore context-specific management recommendations for the Wrecks of HMS Erebus and HMS Terror National Historic Site (WET NHS). This thesis used a systematic, three-staged data collection approach to examine: concerns related to marine and shipwreck tourism management; management “best” practices that have addressed similar concerns; and, expert feedback on the feasibility of applying these strategies to management of marine tourism at the WET NHS. Key management issues explored throughout included: which site(s) should be open to various visitor types; how tourism should use the sites; and, where and how visitor experience opportunities should be developed and managed. Based on the findings from the three-staged approach, ten context-specific management recommendations were made for the WET NHS, including: creating visitor guidelines, requiring local guides, developing anchoring restrictions, expanding the Inuit Guardian program, and offering high-quality visitor experiences on and off-site. Together, these recommendations helped inform recommendations for marine tourism management at the WET NHS for its protection and enjoyment by future generations, and the benefit of local Inuit communities

Using the Theory of Emotional Stakeholders to Experimentally Test the Influence of Proxy Communicators about Organizational Crises in Digital News Reports

The emergence of new and social media has transformed the way that stakeholders and organizations interact between and amongst each other. Online news consumers are now able to directly respond to crisis news reports by offering their own interpretation, thus expanding the diversity of viewpoints audiences are exposed to (Carpenter, 2010; Springer, 2014). Using the Theory of Emotional Stakeholders framework our study aims (1) to understand how positive and negative user-generated comments in response to online news reports of crisis events impacts audience perceptions of organizational blame; (2) to examine the persuasive effects of user comments when expert or official organizational responses are provided; and, (3) to measure the affective response to online news reports including user comments. Using experimental procedures our findings show that user comments from organizations, faith-holders, and hate-holders contribute to audience evaluations of crisis responsibility, both causal and treatment. Results found that user comments from faith-holders reduced causal responsibility in the intentional cluster compared to the control condition; however, when organizations were facing preventable crises, user comments from faith-holders amplified perceived treatment responsibility. A detailed description of the findings, discussion, limitations and future directions are provided

ODU Undergraduate Students Addressing the Societal Problems of Parking Control, Classroom Seating, and Flood Monitoring in Hampton Roads

During the summer of 2021, ODU undergraduate computer science students undertook image processing research projects. These projects focused on utilizing the Raspberry Pi computer and camera module to address three real-world problems concerning parking control, classroom seating, and flood monitoring. The parking lot occupancy project aimed to develop a system that monitors the occupancy of parking spaces in a lot and communicates the status of the lot of drivers and the lot attendants. The COVID-19 classroom occupancy project sought to enforce social distancing protocols in a classroom environment by detecting seating violations and notifying the instructor and the impacted students of the violation. Designed for the Hampton Roads community, the flood detection project concerned the development of a vision system, controlled by the Raspberry Pi, that detects the flood levels of a particular location and determines if the flooding is low, moderate, or severe. This paper details the development of these projects and proposes future considerations and recommendations for further undergraduate study and improved real-world functionality

Evaluating LED Street Lighting

The Town of Nantucket has nearly 200 decorative streetlamps that require constant maintenance and repair. The goal of our project was to create a database of the streetlamps and evaluate the feasibility of retrofitting the lights with LEDs. We inventoried the decorative streetlamps, created a database and an interactive map of the streetlamp locations, assessed public opinion about the LED retrofit, and analyzed the economic costs and benefits of the conversion. Based on our findings, we recommend a plan for proactive maintenance and we conclude that an LED conversion would be a feasible option for the Town of Nantucket that would reduce maintenance problems and maintain the desired lighting aesthetics

Tibia Fracture Walking Boot: A Strain Controlling Device

The group designed a non-invasive strain application device that improved upon existing fracture healing devices such as external fixators, casts, and functional braces. The design included combining an AirCast walking boot and patellar tendon bearing (PTB) brace, with the ability to create a gap beneath the heel. Three tests were used to verify the mechanical properties of the analogue bones, the strains at the fracture site produced by various forces, and the forces experienced at different locations on the foot while wearing the device. Through proof of concept, the testing showed that introducing a gap in the device correlates to a dampened force and strain at the fracture site for optimal healing conditions