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Succession Success in Family Business in Ghana
No full textSome FOB leaders lack effective strategies to successfully transition a family-owned business (FOB) from one generation to another. Seventy percent of family-owned businesses (FOB) fail to transition from the first generation to the second generation. Guided by the theory of planned behavior as the conceptual framework, the purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore the business strategies that three FOB leaders used to achieve a successful transition of a FOB from one generation to another. This study included three FOB leaders in Ghana who successfully sustained their business operations after leadership succession. Data were collected through semistructured face-to-face interviews and member checking. Methodological triangulation of data sources such as interview transcripts, notes, and reviews of publicly available data from their Internet websites and member checking augmented the findings credibility and trustworthiness. Data analysis included word frequency analysis, coding of related phrases, and generation of themes. The data analysis results revealed three themes: successor selection between interest and commitment, family values and organization’s culture, and transferring knowledge and experience. A key recommendation is for FOB leaders to prudently implement successor selection strategies in choosing the person who displayed the highest interest, commitment, and qualifications to become the new leaders of the FOB. The potential positive social change implications include stable employment opportunities, a better standard of living for employees and their families, and more investments in communities by FOB leaders
Direct and Indirect Impact of Operations Strategy on Management Consulting Firm Profitability
No full textThis dissertation examined the direct and indirect effects of firm operations strategy’s determinants, including two mediating variables, on firm performance. Data collected under this quantitively driven research focuses on top management of 146 consulting firms in the U.S. We employed regression analyses and used Hayes Macros tests to determine the relationships amongst operations strategy determinants – cost, service quality, differentiation, and flexibility, our mediators – advertising and employee turnover, and performance. This dissertation’s findings are aligned with other empirical works suggesting that performance is significantly and positively influenced by operations strategy determinants. The study results also show the significant mediating effect of adverting on the relationship between cost, quality, and performance. No mediating effect of advertising is found between flexibility, differentiation, and performance. Employee turnover mediating relationship between operations strategy determinants and performance emerged as insignificant. We contended that management must adopt strategic approach regarding operations strategy determinants as the means to enhance and sustain firm performance
Young Adolescents’ Opportunity to Develop Concept Images of Polygons in Middle School Mathematics Textbooks
No full textYoung adolescents build notions of figures through experiences. When young adolescentsbegin middle school mathematics, they already have prior assumptions and conceptualizations about shapes (Herbst, Fujita, Halverscheid, & Weiss, 2017). Over years of experiences, interactions, and exposures with a particular concept, these students develop concept images consisting of all the visual information, pictures, mental images, or properties associated with the particular mathematical concept (Vinner, 1983). Seminal works in the field of mathematics education research found that without an opportunity to engage with varied representations, young adolescent students may not develop robust concept images (Aspinwall, Shaw & Presmeg, 1997; Hasegawa, 1997; Mesa, 2004; Presmeg, 1986, 1992; Tall & Vinner, 1981; Vinner, 1983; Vinner & Dreyfus, 1989). Therefore, in this study, I analyzed young adolescents’ opportunities to develop concept images of polygons in middle school mathematics textbooks (grades 6-8). I chose to analyze convex polygons in nine textbooks: Pearson enVisionmath2.0 Grades 6, 7, 8 (Berry et al., 2017), Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Go Math! Grades 6, 7, 8 (Burger et al., 2014), and McGraw Hill Education Glencoe Math Course 1, 2, 3 (Carter et al., 2015). This sample of textbooks represents one series from each of the three major textbook publishers: Pearson, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, McGraw Hill Education (Banilower et al., 2018). I explored young adolescent’s opportunity to develop concept images of polygons in middle school mathematics textbooks in terms of the exposure to a variety of polygons represented, exposure to a variety of polygon orientations, exposure to non-prototypical images, exposure to a variety of contexts, exposure to a variety of image roles, and exposure to developmentally responsive tasks. The results of this study indicate that within three published middle school mathematics textbook series, students do not have adequate opportunities to develop robust concept images of polygons. In all three textbook series, students have more exposure to images of convex polygons in eighth-grade textbooks, followed by sixth-grade textbooks, and the finally seventh-grade textbooks, however, all three textbook series contained little variety in terms of types of convex polygons represented. The three textbook series did not provide ample opportunities for students to engage with images of convex polygons in a variety of orientations and did not provide many opportunities for students to engage with non- prototypical images of convex polygons. Additionally, the three textbook series did not provide much variety in terms of contexts and roles of images with a majority of convex polygons set in purely mathematical contexts and as interpretive images. Further, all three textbook series provided little to no developmentally responsive tasks containing images of convex polygons in terms of young adolescents' physical, psychological, social-emotional, and moral needs
The Implementation of Personalized Learning at Merryweather High School: A Case Study
No full textThe implementation of personalized learning (PL) in our nation’s public schools has been a hot topic over the past decade, and within recent years, nonprofit organizations as well as educators have embarked on various studies in order to gain additional understanding of PL. As schools and districts push to implement PL, classroom teachers as well as school administrators, especially at suburban high schools, lack adequate guidelines to support them in successfully implementing PL in their classes. This single case study ascertained teachers’ and building-level administrators’ implementation of PL in a high school, Merryweather High School (MWHS), that has recently adopted this approach. The findings from the study revealed that student ownership, a collaborative and authentic learning experience developed in a PBL approach, strong teacher-student relationships, PD opportunities geared to teachers’ individual needs and increased teacher professional autonomy all played a major role in the school’s ability to implement PL. In order to mitigate the challenges of a successful implementation of PL, the study additionally identified the importance for the institution to align its structures and practices with the tenets of PL
Middle-school Language Arts Teachers’ Perceptions and Experiences Modifying State-prepared Curricular Resources: A Qualitative Descriptive Study
No full textThe problem addressed through this study was that many teachers often precisely follow state-prepared curricular resources and do not understand how to tailor instruction to diverse learners’ needs, creating inequitable learning opportunities for students. The purpose of this study was to explore the participants’ perception of the EngageNY language arts modules and their experiences with the resources’ use and differentiation when creating fair learning opportunities for diverse learners. The differentiated instruction model, proposed by Carol Ann Tomlinson, served as the theoretical framework for this study. A qualitative descriptive design was applied to answer two research questions concerning the middle-school language arts teachers’ perceptions and experiences with implementing and differentiating the EngageNY modules to assure fair access to learning. Ten purposefully selected middle-school teachers representing various schools across the United States participated in semistructured interviews and focus groups. The six-step thematic analysis was used to analyze qualitative data. The findings comprise six major themes: 1. Curriculum and resources provide a framework or roadmap to help teachers meet students’ needs. 2. EngageNY ELA middle-school modules guide the teachers through the instructional process as they comprise rigorous, relevant texts, activities, assessments, and standards. 3. Teachers encountered obstacles when implementing resources for the first time. 4. Thorough preparation helped teachers successfully implement the modules. 5. Building relationships with students helps teachers know how to differentiate. 6. Teachers use various strategies to differentiate instruction based on their prior knowledge and available resources in the modules. The study’s implications were that the Common Core-aligned resources that consider diverse learners provide teachers, who often misinterpret personal responsibility in translating curriculum into equitable teaching, with prepared plans and students with fair access to rigorous content but necessitate thorough planning for their modification to ensure equal learning opportunities for all students. Recommendations for practice comprise concrete ideas for administrative support, teachers’ implementation of the modules, and curriculum developers’ consideration. Recommendations for future research include additional qualitative descriptive studies with the same and different participants, supplemental conceptual framework, other data collection and analysis methods, and a mixed-method study that gathers quantitative data through a survey
A Causal-Comparative Examination of CLABSI, Vascular Access Teams and Hospital Types
No full textThe purpose of this quantitative, causal-comparative study was to determine if there is a difference in reported CLABSI rates based on hospital type and if a difference in reported CLABSI rates was based on the presence or absence of a vascular access team in a random sample of 3700 hospitals in the United States. The Donabedian structure-process-outcome theoretical model were used to guide this study. The sample included 128 hospitals reporting CLABSI rates to NHSN during 2016-2017. Archived secondary data and a hospital phone inquiry were used for this research. The research questions were: 1. Is there a difference in reported CLABSI rates based on hospital type (teaching and non-teaching) for hospitals with a vascular access team?; 2. Is there a difference in reported CLABSI rates based on a vascular access team present or absence? ANOVA and the t-test were used to determine whether there were any statistically significant differences between the groups being examined. The findings rejected the null hypotheses and accepted the alternate hypotheses for hospitals with a team F(2, 125) = 16.54, p < .001, and team present F(1, 125) = 8.54, p = .004. These findings may be used to inform healthcare leaders of best practices concerning vascular access teams
Educational Equity: Examining How Middle School Educators Implement and Practice Culturally Responsive Teaching
No full textThe purpose of this mixed methods Delphi study was to determine how teachers are utilizing Culturally Responsive Teaching (CRT) in middle schools within the United States using a survey modified to conform to the middle school setting. This descriptive study features results from ten experts in the field of CRT using a Delphi technique, think-aloud protocol, pilot study, and 234 middle school teachers from across the United States who reported how they incorporate CRT practices into their work with students. The most common and least common practices were identified and discussed in this study. The most common practices used by middle school educators were: incorporating culturally relevant icons into questions, collaborative learning, and recognizing and respecting differences in family structures. The least common practices identified were traditional learning, guest speakers, and gaining information about students from familial sources. The findings of this study suggest that CRT practices are frequently used by middle school teachers in the United States. These findings have important implications considering the benefits and impact the use of these practices have with all students and teachers, but particularly middle school students
The Influence of Implicit Bias on Student Evaluations of Teaching at a Missouri Community College
No full textStudent Evaluations of Teaching (SET) are the primary instrument used to measure teaching effectiveness by colleges and universities nationwide (Wallace, Lewis, & Allen, 2019). Many colleges and universities use the SET for personnel decisions regarding tenure, promotion, and termination. Yet, the possibility of implicit bias impacting the SET and resulting in discriminatory practices against marginalized faculty continues to be a concern for higher education (Mitchell & Martin, 2018). The effectiveness of the SET continues to be debated by faculty and administrators due to concerns about reliability, validity, and bias (Bonitz, 2011). This quantitative study was conducted to examine the influence of implicit bias on the SET. The goal of this study was to determine if students were more influenced by instructor characteristics than teaching effectiveness when completing the SET and to determine how faculty perceived student responses on the SET. During the fall 2019 semester, faculty and students in the Communication and World Languages department at a Missouri community college were asked to complete a survey. The results from the student survey indicated the students were influenced by instructor characteristics, and they preferred native English-speaking instructors. The results from the faculty survey indicated the faculty believed students were influenced more by instructor characteristics than by teaching effectiveness. The findings in this study may serve as a reminder that the SET is influenced by implicit bias; therefore, marginalized groups may be negatively affected by SET results
Functional Singular Spectrum Analysis: Nonparametric Decomposition and Forecasting Approaches for Functional Time Series
No full textIn this dissertation, we develop nonparametric decomposition methods and the subsequent forecasting techniques for functional, time-dependent data known as functional time series (FTS). We use ideas from functional data analysis (FDA) and singular spectrum analysis (SSA) to introduce the nonparametric decomposition method known as functional SSA (FSSA) and its associated forecasting techniques. We also extend these developed methodologies into multivariate FSSA (MFSSA) over different dimensional domains and its subsequent forecasting routines so that we may perform nonparametric decomposition and prediction of multivariate FTS (MFTS). The FSSA algorithm may be viewed as a signal extraction technique and we find that the method outperforms other competing approaches in estimating the underlying deterministic nature of an FTS. We then develop the FSSA recurrent forecasting (FSSA R-forecasting) and FSSA vector forecasting (FSSA V-forecasting) algorithms to predict future observations and we find that these methods outperform the current gold standard for nonparametric forecasting of periodic FTS. Finally, we finish with the implementation of MFSSA and the respective forecasting algorithms (MFSSA R-forecasting and MFSSA V-forecasting), which are used to decompose and forecast MFTS. We find that the MFSSA methods outperform their univariate FSSA counterparts in signal extraction and forecasting of MFTS data
Dissecting SWI/SNF Subcomplex Chromatin Dynamics in ARID2 Deficient Melanoma
No full textPBAF is a mammalian chromatin-remodeling complex of the SWI/SNF family, essential for transcriptional regulation and development, which is frequently mutated in cancer. In melanoma, ARID2, a subunit of the PBAF complex, is the most mutated subunit (~11-18% depending on the cohort), and its recurring loss-of-function mutations point towards a tumor suppressive role. In this study we aim to better understand the mechanisms by which mutations in ARID2 contribute to melanoma progression. To this end, we evaluated the levels of ARID2 in a panel of ARID2 mutant melanoma cell lines and showed that they all displayed a significant depletion of ARID2, PBRM1 and BRD7 at the chromatin level, suggesting defective assembly of the PBAF complex. To test the impact of PBAF complex depletion in an isogenic model, we generated ARID2 knockout CRISPR clones in 501mel and SKmel147 melanoma cell line. We examined how PBAF loss affected chromatin structure by assaying for open chromatin (via ATAC-sequencing), active and repressive histone post-translational modifications (H3K27ac, H3K27me3), and subunits of the PBAF and BAF subcomplexes (ARID2 and SS18) in ARID2 wild-type (WT) and knockout (KO) cell lines. We found that most of the regions that lost chromatin accessibility were active promoters with high ARID2 enrichment, whereas virtually all the regions that gained chromatin accessibility were at distal regulatory sites, with low enrichment of ARID2 and H3K27ac. Strikingly, loss of chromatin accessibility was concomitant with loss of H3K27ac and SS18, indicating a dominant role of the PBAF subcomplex in these regions. Alternatively, gain of chromatin accessibility was accompanied with increase H3K27ac and SS18, indicating invasion of the BAF subcomplex to these regions. Further transcription factor analysis in these deregulated regions revealed that the binding of transcription factors associated with SWI/SNF and important for melanoma, FOSL2, TEAD4 and MITF, were also altered in these regions. Transcriptomic analysis showed significant enrichment of pathways involved in antigen presentation, cell migration, invasion and epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) in ARID2 KO cells. Conversely, amino acid metabolism and ribosome-related pathways were consistently downregulated in ARID2 KO cells. Importantly, after integration of transcriptomic and epigenomic results, we found that most of the transcriptional changes were highly correlated with nearby alterations in chromatin. Functionally, as hinted by some of the upregulated pathways, ARID2 KO cells displayed an increased dissemination rate to the liver and lower chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) of chicken embryos, and no significant difference in primary tumor growth. Collectively, our findings provide novel insight into inter-SWI/SNF subcomplex dynamics, their impact on melanoma relevant transcription factor binding and their transcriptional targets