Tactical Air Operations

My objective during this lecture is to tell you as much as I can, in the short time available, regarding the problem of as­suring that the surface forces receive the best possible assistance from the Air Force during combat operations

A New Approach to Laboratory-Based Learning in an Introductory Ergonomics Course

Laboratory-based learning plays an important role in the introductory Ergonomics course at the University of Oklahoma. Qualitative analyses of technical reports over several semesters revealed repeated problems. Students were unfamiliar with academic publications, did not know how to report results, and had difficulty interpreting results. In addition to these problems, other difficulties arose. Students felt overwhelmed. Some developed a dislike for the field of human factors. Several cited the labs as the source of their dissatisfaction. To address these problems, we adopted a new approach to conducting the laboratory portion of the course. We sought to increase student engagement, support learning through scaffolding, increase the rate and quantity of feedback, and provide team-development opportunities. Students' performance in data analysis and technical writing improved over the previous year and throughout the semester. Satisfaction with the course as a whole and the laboratory section in particular improved. We are pleased with the results and plan to continue refining the course design. We hope that this article will inspire discussion of effective techniques in ergonomics laboratory instruction.Yeshttps://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/manuscript-submission-guideline

Consumer Motivations for Online Shopping

Consumers shop online for goal-oriented, instrumental reasons, and for experiential reasons. However, goaloriented motives are more common among online shoppers than are experiential motives. Based on our exploratory research of online shopping using 5 offline and 4 online focus groups conducted in conjunction with Harris Interactive, we identify and discuss attributes that facilitate goal-oriented online shopping, including accessibility/convenience, selection, information availability and lack of unwanted sociality from retail sales help or shopping partners such as spouses. The goal-oriented characteristics of online shopping collectively result in an experience that is involving for buyers, but which results in low commitment to purchasing. Buyers shop when and where they want, and are comfortable abandoning a site and products placed in a shopping cart either on a whim or to further consider their purchase; consumers often use the words freedom and control in explaining the value of online shopping. While consumers are more likely to describe offline rather than online shopping in experiential terms, we find evidence of experiential motivations for online shopping emerging. We offer managerial implications for cultivating goal-oriented and experiential online buyers

A Conceptual Taxonomy of Technology Adoption and Diffusion in the Classroom

We suggest that faculty adoption patterns move through three identifiable stages (cf. Rayport and Sviokla 1995). In Stage 1, technology serves a support function which improves efficiency, but does not significantly impact teaching. During Stage 2, teaching technology enables faculty to efficiently mirror classroom activities utilizing new technologies. Stage 3 utilization of technology not only supports and mirrors current activities; the goal is to substantively improve teaching and to strengthen the interaction between students and professors; unique applications result in improved application of new technologies. Our conceptualization should help departments and individuals better understand how they are currently using technology, to identify barriers which hinder stage 3 adoption behavior, and to develop goals and create applications which will push faculty beyond using new technologies merely to support or mirror previous functions

The Evolving IT - Marketing Strategy Relationship: Will Business Schools Meet the Need?

As eCommerce grows in importance, the use of information technologies, such as web sites and corporate extranets is increasingly customer facing. As a result, an increased integration between IT and business-marketing strategic functions is necessary in businesses. An important consequence of this integration is that students, employees, and managers must be trained to operate in this cross-disciplinary business world. We review the historical role of technology in businesses, arguing that the role of technology in organizations has evolved from a paradigm in which technology served primarily as a support function to being a critical business function that cannot be properly executed without an understanding of consumer behavior and marketing strategy. We suggest that business schools need to redefine disciplinary boundaries, allow cross-disciplinary student majors, and rethink their missions. New research streams and courses must be developed, and time-to-publication windows need to be shorter for research findings to be relevant to the New Economy

The Influence of Engineering Competition Team Participation on College Students' Leadership Development

Engineering competition teams are promoted as incubators for the development of leadership among college students, yet we know little about how leadership actually develops within the teams. This descriptive, instrumental case study of two engineering competition teams at a public university in the United States explored the influence of team participation on the leadership development of engineering students. The mixed-methods design included questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. During the first phase, members of the teams answered a questionnaire regarding the internal team environment, listed personally influential team members, and rated each listed member on personal influence and the extent to which the team relied on that member for leadership. Following the method of Carson et al. (2007), the social network measure of density was used to evaluate the level of shared leadership within each team. Individual-level social network measures were calculated to estimate the amount and type of influence exercised by individual team members, and to select candidates for the interviews. In the second phase, fourteen team members participated in individual recorded semi-structured interviews exploring the team experience and their own individual leadership development journeys. Interview transcripts were coded using both structured and inductive coding procedures. Most team members’ definitions of leadership aligned with an individualistic, hierarchical view. A few team members’ definitions indicated an understanding of the nonpositional and collectivistic aspects of leadership. Further analysis revealed that team members understood leadership from a functional perspective. Team members strongly associated five categories of behavior with leadership: Ideal Behavior, Individual Consideration, Project Management, Technical Competence, and Communication. Other leadership behaviors, including Collaboration, Training & Mentoring, Problem-Solving, Motivating Others, Delegation, and Boundary-Spanning, were less consistently recognized, and some behaviors were valued more highly within one team than the other. ECT participation helped students further their technical, relational, and project-management skills. The interviews also revealed considerable room for improvement. Team members struggled to manage their projects, failed to document important information, and overemphasized ideal behavior as the key to project success. The team members interviewed exhibited the full range of collegiate leadership identities described by the Leadership Identity Development (LID) model (Komives et al., 2005, 2006). Positional leadership role experience (within ECT or other organizations) did not positively predict a student’s level of leadership identity development. Students’ leadership development was enhanced through prolonged and immersive participation in the engineering competition team. The degree of leadership development experienced by team members was moderated by project complexity, team culture, and team practices. With one exception, members of the team with the greater leadership density and the more complex project occupied higher stages on the LID model. The complex project provided greater opportunities for team members to collaborate. Although the results show that ECT participation can have a positive contribution on students’ leadership development, the benefits should not be assumed. In order to help students develop as leaders, institutions must approach leadership development intentionally

The General Public’s Weather Information-Seeking and Decision-Making Behavior During Tornado Outbreaks in the Oklahoma City Metroplex In May 2013

Severe weather impacts the lives of many people. Today\u27s technology allows weather information to be distributed to the general public in many ways. However, it is not clear how people obtain information regarding severe weather, and how they make decisions based on the information. This study surveyed people in the Oklahoma City metroplex about their weather information–seeking and decision-making behaviors during the May 2013 tornado outbreaks. The preliminary results based on 124 survey responses show that people used and trusted television news most to obtain the severe weather information, followed by siren, weather radio, radio, looking at the sky, and smart device. Behavior during the May 31 storm was different than that reported for the May 20 event. On the positive side, more people sought shelter during the May 31 storm. However, the number of people attempting to leave the area in a vehicle also increased. These behavior patterns demonstrate the strong influence of the weather information broadcasted via television news on general public\u27s behavior

The influence of engineering competition team participation on students’ leadership identity development

Background: Engineering competition teams (ECTs) allow college students to learn about and practice leadership within a technical domain, yet we know little about the mechanisms by which leadership development occurs within these teams. This paper explores how ECT participation contributes to students' leadership identity development (LID). Purpose: This paper addresses the following research questions: RQ1: How does the ECT experience contribute to students' relational LID? RQ2: What other factors influence ECT participants' LID? RQ3: Does the ECT experience provide opportunities for LID that are different from those provided by other experiences? Design: This paper reports the second phase of a mixed-methods study. ECT members participated in individual semistructured interviews. Transcripts were analyzed via an interpretivist approach using deductive and constant comparative methods. The analysis employed the LID model as the primary theoretical construct. Results: ECTs contributed to most participants' LID. Factors affecting the extent of development included project complexity, team practices related to the claiming and granting of a leadership identity, positional leadership experi- ence, involvement with other organizations, and preconceptions of leadership. Compared with other experiences, ECTs placed more emphasis on leadership based in expertise. Technical competence was considered a key attribute of ECT leaders. Conclusions: ECTs enhanced the LID of most participants, helping them understand leadership as a relational process. The LID model offers promise for designing engineering leadership development programs.Ye

Biomechanical Analysis of Postural Sway in Elderly Adults on Ramps

This study investigated the effects of ramp angles on postural deviation as a function of age. Five ramp inclinations (1:8, 1:10, 1:12, 1:16, and 1:20) were examined in both ascent and descent directions. Five younger (22 to 28 years) and five older (78 to 88 years) adults participated in the study. Video-based motion analysis was used to measure torso and hip angles while participants walked on an adjustable inclined ramp. Both young and older participants had a significant increase in torso angle across ramp slopes from ascent to descent. In addition, the data indicated that older participants tended to lean to the right while walking while the young participants leaned to the left. Measurements of hip angle revealed that young participants had significantly greater hip movement than older participants and that hip angle decreased significantly as participants transitioned from descent to ascent trials. Based on the data observed, it is possible that ramp descent is more problematic for elderly adults. However, within the ramp conditions evaluated, the data were unable to clearly discriminate between ramp slopes beyond identifying differences between slopes of ascent and descent.Yeshttps://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/manuscript-submission-guideline

COBRA framework to evaluate e-government services: A citizen-centric perspective

E-government services involve many stakeholders who have different objectives that can have an impact on success. Among these stakeholders, citizens are the primary stakeholders of government activities. Accordingly, their satisfaction plays an important role in e-government success. Although several models have been proposed to assess the success of e-government services through measuring users' satisfaction levels, they fail to provide a comprehensive evaluation model. This study provides an insight and critical analysis of the extant literature to identify the most critical factors and their manifested variables for user satisfaction in the provision of e-government services. The various manifested variables are then grouped into a new quantitative analysis framework consisting of four main constructs: cost; benefit; risk and opportunity (COBRA) by analogy to the well-known SWOT qualitative analysis framework. The COBRA measurement scale is developed, tested, refined and validated on a sample group of e-government service users in Turkey. A structured equation model is used to establish relationships among the identified constructs, associated variables and users' satisfaction. The results confirm that COBRA framework is a useful approach for evaluating the success of e-government services from citizens' perspective and it can be generalised to other perspectives and measurement contexts. Crown Copyright © 2014.PIAP-GA-2008-230658) from the European Union Framework Program and another grant (NPRP 09-1023-5-158) from the Qatar National Research Fund (amember of Qatar Foundation