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Finding a More Inclusive Workplace: Engaging Those with Low and High Functioning Autism
Get PDFAutism Spectrum Disorder as a diagnosis is becoming more common than in past years. This results in a larger number of individuals attempting to enter the work force but facing challenges in the employment process. Organizations that hold social responsibility to high regards will be motivated to incorporate more ways to be inclusive. This study will examine specific jobs that would pair with lower and higher functioning individuals with ASD, alter the recruiting process to accommodate for a more inclusive environment, and focus on current employees to engage them in the change as well. This initiative will be an education intervention that will involve all employees in order to facilitate a more inclusive, welcoming environment. The current study will survey employees using the following: the employee engagement scale (Schaufeli, Salanova, González-Romá, & Bakker, 2002), job satisfaction scale (Spector, 1997), and levels of turnover intention scale (Allen, 2001). We will take a pre-initiative survey as well as a post-initiative survey to see whether our initiative is related to increases in job satisfaction and engagement in all employees, as well as a decrease in turnover intentions within the company
How do individual and parental work centrality attitudes and social support impact young adults’ perceptions of sexual harassment at work?
Get PDFThe #metoo movement has spurred women and men to come forward with their stories and claims of sexual harassment. In addition to older adults, young adults have experienced sexual harassment in a variety of settings. These may include school, work, or even on the street. Around 51% of women and 53% of men had experienced some form of unwanted sexually charged interaction in public places, like cat-calling, by the age of 17 (Kearl, 2014). The purpose of the study is to examine how young adults perceive sexually harassing behaviors at work. I examine how these perceptions are influenced by one’s individual work centrality beliefs, parent’s work centrality beliefs, and social support. Participants will be recruited from MTSU’s student population to take an online survey asking them to rate their work centrality beliefs, their perceptions of their parent’s work centrality beliefs, and their perceptions of family support received. Individuals will also be rating their perceptions of sexually harassing behaviors, if they have experienced the behavior, and the frequency of experiencing the behavior. To analyze these perceptions, a series of multiple regressions will be conducted
Developing a Measure of Safety Data Culture
Get PDFSafety is a critical concern for many organizations, especially those in construction and manufacturing. A newer approach to improving an organization’s decision making involves the use of data analytics. In regard to safety, the use of data analytics would allow for detecting and tracking risk factors such as behaviors, environmental contingencies, production, procedures, and hazards that are associated with workplace injuries. However, many organizations do not have a culture involving the use and measurement of relevant variables on an ongoing basis. Accordingly, the purpose of the study is to develop a measure of safety culture with a specific emphasis on the extent to which data is being utilized for management of safety in an organization. This measure of safety culture and analytics will assist in determining the extent to which an organization is ready to utilize data analytics into their safety program
Strange-Making: a study of curation
Get PDFThe curatorial project “Strange-Making,” a three-person exhibition held at Apothecary Gallery in March 2018, is the culmination of creative research on the application of the term “ostranenie” to contemporary painting in the region surrounding Chattanooga, Tennessee. The technique of “ostranenie” or “enstrangement” is defined in Viktor Shklovsky’s Art, As Device, 1917, as the technique of describing something familiar in a way that makes it appear unknown. “Ostranenie” was originally discussed in terms of imagery in literature. This exhibition and the curatorial statement reveals the direct connection between the role description plays in representational painting as a physical construction of an image, and the role of description of an image in prose. Artwork was selected from three artists: Eleanor Aldrich (Knoxville, Tennessee), David Onri Anderson (Nashville, Tennessee), and Amy Pleasant (Birminghan, Alabama). A two- or three-person exhibition holds greater professional significance because of the focus given to each work in the gallery space and in writing. This paper is an analysis of “enstrangement” in selected artworks as a counter to the automatization of perception that occurs through repetition, routine, and familiarity
Educational and employment outcomes for students who complete a high school career and technical concentration
Get PDFParticipating in career technical education has been associated with increased completion of secondary and postsecondary educational programs among other positive effects for students. Selected academic and vocational outcomes were examined relating to the curricular concentration students engaged in during high school and various demographic characteristics. There was no significant effect for curricular concentration on job satisfaction as reported by survey respondents eight years after completing high school. Neither was there any significant effect for gender, ethnic identity, or socioeconomic status on job satisfaction, or for the prediction of future educational attainment. Non-career technical education concentrators scored significantly higher than career technical education concentrators on their judgment of how much they liked high school. Implications for educator practice, training, and funding were discussed
Conditional reflection and the Religion Reflection Scale: How familiarity with different domains influences cognitive reflection
Get PDFA host of research has shown that those who are nonreligious tend to outscore those who are religious on measures of intelligence and cognitive reflection. The prevailing explanation for this phenomenon is that nonreligious people are more adept at overriding their initial intuitions, thus leading to their increased skepticism of intuitive supernatural beliefs. However, the argument is raised in this investigation that the current measures of cognitive reflection in the field may not encapsulate the totality of dual-process thinking. Just as math students outperform upper-level psychology students on measures of cognitive reflection related to their discipline (Study 1), so, too, may religious individuals outperform nonreligious individuals on measures of cognitive reflection relating to their discipline of familiarity: religion (Study 2). While support for this second hypothesis was wanting, special considerations should be given to find measures of cognitive reflection that appeal to the unique experiences of specific groups in question
Predicting and preventing common volleyball injuries with functional tests
Get PDFThe purpose of this thesis is to provide a compilation of screening tests best suited for predicting and preventing volleyball’s most common injuries. Research displays a gap in knowledge pertaining to volleyball-specific injury prevention tests. A literary analysis was completed for information regarding; correct volleyball techniques, incorrect techniques that are commonly observed, common injuries resulting from faulty technique, and tests best designed to prevent these injuries. It was found that knees and ankles were the two joints most often injured. These injuries mainly occurred during the landing phase of the jumping-landing sequence. Therefore, ankle and knee injury rates were higher in front row attackers and blockers. Because data is more abundant for these two joints, the tests that were studied place a greater emphasis on ankle and knee injury prediction. All the tests used were designed to imitate game-like movements to provide the best results. These included; multiple variations of a single leg hop test to observe leg strength, and ankle and knee control upon landing, single leg squat test and drop jump to display correct knee technique, and to expose hip strength, the groin flexibility test to potentially predict adductor strains, core strength screenings that tested both abdominal and lower back strength, and finally, shoulder mobility and control tests. In conclusion, due to the growing popularity of volleyball, definitive sport-specific tests should be put into place to help reduce injury rates and prevent injury-related participation restriction
The evolution of challenges for adoptive families: the impact of age as a framework for differentiation
Get PDFThis exploratory study examined issues parents (n=20) experienced after adoption through the child welfare system. The findings suggest that the primary differences between struggling and non-struggling families was whether the family was internally-protected or externally-focused. Internally-protected families were able to insulate and protect their family from many outside forces and meet their children’s needs. In contrast, externally-influenced families tended to have negative involvement with the school, community, and/or law enforcement, often resulting from children’s disruptive behavior. The parents had limited choices as to whether outside entities were involved in their children’s lives. Participants reported that sustained support after adoption is necessary so parents do not burn out, and that different resources are needed based on the child’s current age
An in vitro analysis of the relative efficacies of antibiotic solutions vs. antiseptics in breast augmentation and reconstruction surgery
Get PDFBreast augmentation and reconstruction procedures are among the most popular plastic surgeries in the U.S. Opportunistic bacterial pathogens introduced during surgery can lead to surgical site infections, capsular contractures, biofilm formation, and lymphoma. To prevent these infections, an antibiotic solution containing Cefazolin, Gentamicin, and Bacitracin (Adams’ Antibiotic Solution - AS) has traditionally been used for irrigation. Due to antibiotic resistant pathogens and a debate over the efficacy of irrigation by AS to reduce infections, alternatives must be found. This study considers the use of the antiseptic chlorhexidine gluconate (CHG) as an alternative irrigation solution. In vitro, we exposed pure cultures of six bacterial species known to cause infections during this surgery to: AS, CHG, or a saline control (SAL) for one, two, or five minutes in simulated breast “cavities” (test tubes). Viable plate counts carried out before and after exposure allowed calculation of the percent survival for each bacterial species. Across all time intervals, the average survival of CHG irrigated cultures was zero percent, though some growth did occur with MRSA. Survival rates following SAL irrigation were between 63.1-104%, and those following AS exposures were between 62.5-100%. Student’s t-tests suggest that differential bacterial survival for CHG and SAL treatments were significant (p \u3c 0.05). However, comparison of bacterial survival in AS and SAL treatments were not significant (p \u3e 0.05) in most cases. These results suggest that use of CHG for irrigation is more effective at killing potential pathogens than AS, and that AS is little different from our controls. This finding has the potential to change the standard of care in breast augmentation and reconstruction surgical procedures
Impact of membership in black greek letter organizations on student learning outcomes
Get PDFThis study examined the perceived relevance of Black Greek Letter Organizations (BGLOs) through the perspectives of the undergraduate student populations at four target universities located in the State of Tennessee. This study also compared student learning outcomes of African American students who were members of BGLOs against African American students who did not belong to BGLOs Three research questions were addressed in this study: (1) Is there a significant difference in the self-reported GPAs of African-American students who are members of BGLOs versus those who are not members of BGLOs? (2) Is there a significant difference in student perceptions of the relevance of BGLOs based on the following variables? campus location, GPA category, class standing, ethnicity, status, gender, Greek affiliation, and type of institution (i.e. historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) or predominantly white institutions (PWIs)? (3) For those students who are members of a fraternity or sorority, is there a significant difference in their perceptions of the relevance of BGLOs based on the organization’s governing council? A researcher-developed instrument was used to measure student perceptions on five scales. In terms of BGLOs and academic integration, the Pearson Chi-square test found no significant difference in academic performance for Blacks students with membership in BGLOs and Black students without membership in BGLOs. For social integration, results of the ANOVA and t-test used for questions 2 and 3 suggested the following: (a) Students with lower self-reported GPAs were more likely to have favorable perceptions of BGLOs than students with higher self-reported GPAs, (b) Black students were more likely to have favorable perceptions of BGLO’s leadership on campus, engagement in the community and overall relevance, than White students and students classified as “Other,” (c) part-time students were more likely to have favorable perceptions of BGLO’s leadership on campus and overall relevance, than full time students, (d) female students were more likely to have favorable perceptions of BGLO’s leadership on campus, engagement in the community and overall relevance, than male students and (e) Students enrolled at HBCUs were more likely to have favorable perceptions of BGLO’s leadership on campus than students enrolled at PWIs