Review of Georgia Yellow Hammers & Associates: Vols. 1-4

American chestnut was once a crucial component of North American forests, but it was functionally eliminated by the introduction of the chestnut blight fungus. Chestnut is recently experiencing resurgence, but the introduced Asian chestnut gall wasp, a specialist herbivore, threatens chestnut recovery. I characterized this invasion and the interactions developing with host associates as the gall wasp spread in North America. Gall wasp dispersal is attributable to host plant distribution, effects of prevailing winds during adult insect emergence, and to topography. This knowledge may be useful to more accurately predict locations of future gall wasp infestations. Gall wasp invasiveness is also affected by its ability to modulate reproduction and reallocate nutritive resources for body maintenance and egg quality. The gall wasp can form galls of different shape and structure based on population levels and parasitism pressure, in order to optimize fitness. Simple, uni-lobed galls are formed when population pressure is low, and complex, multi-lobed galls are formed when gall wasp populations are high. A fungal plant pathogen, identified as Colletotrichum sp., infects galls and acts as an opportunistic entomopathogen, causing gall wasp mortality while sparing the parasitoid. A non-native torymid parasitic wasp has been deployed for biological control. Using a Y-olfactometer I demonstrated that a combination of olfactory and visual cues from chestnut galls and chestnut foliage is required for parasitoid adults to locate hosts. In addition, I evaluated interactions between the gall wasp and stem cankers on chestnut. Using potted Chinese chestnut seedlings with or without gall wasp or a native Nectria cankering pathogen, I found that the gall wasp has a negative impact on plant fitness, and a positive impact on fungal fitness. My work helps elucidate ecological mechanisms underlying the success of the exotic Asian chestnut gall wasp in North America, and adds to our knowledge base characterizing evolving ecological interactions between native and introduced species.

Bachelor-Arbeit Univ. St. Gallen, 2007.

Owners of small businesses who fail to implement adequate employee motivation and retention strategies may experience lost profit and high employee turnover. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore the managerial strategies that owners of small businesses owners used to motivate and retain sales associates to increase profits. The population for the study included owners of 4 businesses in Texas who successfully implemented employee motivation and retention strategies. Data were collected from semistructured interviews with business owners and from artifacts such as company websites and social media pages. Transformational leadership theory guided the study. Data were analyzed using Yin’s 5 steps of data analysis including compiling data, disassembling data, reassembling data, interpreting data, and drawing conclusions. Three themes emerged from the data analysis: provide financial incentives, increase job satisfaction, and enhance job training. The findings of this study might contribute to positive social change by providing owners of small businesses with strategies to retain employees, which may build customer loyalty and increase business performance and longevity. Business leaders may benefit from these findings by strengthening relationships with employees and improving the overall performance of the organization. The results of this study could also contribute to positive social change by helping other small business owners implementing motivation and retention strategies, which might enhance business sustainability. Business sustainability supports both local and state economies and fosters an optimum distribution of resources in the community.

No description available.

The present study investigated the differential effects of test-induced priming on false memories evoked by Converging Associates Procedure (DRM lists) and Category Associates Procedures (Category lists). The experimental settings involved the manipulation of test order of the critical items, in relation to the list items from their corresponding lists. The significance of the study comes from the fact that it directly compares the false memories elicited by Converging Associates Procedure and Category Associates Procedures within the same experimental settings. The results demonstrated that associative processes at test affected the proportion of false recollections elicited by DRM lists more than that elicited by Category lists. The results are discussed in relation to gist based theories of false memory and activation/monitoring account.

On September 1, 1823, the Merrimack Manufacturing Company commenced operations, the first of many textile mills constructed and operated by the Boston Company (colloquially referred to as the Boston Associates). The burgeoning mill complex, the first large-scale industrial development in the United States was incorporated as the town of Lowell in 1826. While the Boston Associates realized monetary profit from the mills, the Associate’s primary motivation for building and operating the textile mills was a desire to perpetuate their vision of the Puritan’s Social Covenant. The Associates achieved their goal in the short term. However, over the long-term, the sheer scale and new management style of the Lowell mills catalyzed the modernization of New England and sublimated the very social and economic conventions the Social Covenant sought to reinforce. In the 19th century the Puritan Social Covenant, part of the American narrative from its earliest years, validated the virtues of community and industry. Already wealthy and spurning other potentially more lucrative investment opportunities Francis C. Lowell and other members of the Boston Associates used the textile mills to inculcate and strengthen the Social Covenant’s precepts among their mill operatives. In the 1840s, the Lowell mills, needing to fill empty mill positions, began to hire Irish immigrants. The introduction of the Irish to the mills immediately created an atmosphere of friction among the predominantly Yankee work force. The later introduction of French-Canadians to the Lowell mills only served to create additional tension. Mill owners found themselves refereeing interminable arguments regarding different and divergent interpretations of social values and personal responsibilities. In the late 1850s, mill owners and mill workers came to the same conclusion: social obligations mattered less than solid financial resources and a wide range of freedom. Mill owners jettisoned their self-imposed responsibilities; employees “turned out” for higher wages and, when unsuccessful, migrated westward. The Lowell mill complex, originally conceived as a means to preserve a traditional, tight-knit social order and an ethic of personal responsibility among a demographically homogeneous population, found itself a large, demographically heterogeneous city embracing and encouraging change. / text

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the transportation estimation in Metropolitan Muncie for the year 2000 done in 1975. The basis for evaluation is the present situation data. From these findings I expect to learn from what was correct and what was inaccurate in their projections. Finally, this study could present several recommendations for long-range transportation planning study in the future.Barton-Aschman Associates (B-A-A) transportation planning for Metropolitan Muncie for the year 2000 based on the year 1975 is a part of Delaware-Muncie Metropolitan Transportation Estimations. The B-A-A had done many studies for Metropolitan Muncie, including a comprehensive plan, to support transportation projections. Land-use, socio-economic, and vehicle travel were examined in order to produce accurate transportation estimates. Socio-economic variables for Metropolitan Muncie are population, occupied dwelling units, employment, and automobiles.Trip generation, trip distribution, mode choice, trip assignment, and traffic volume are projected in the final estimations. But this project focuses on relationships among variables: land-use, zoning change, population, occupied dwelling units, employment, average daily traffic volume (ADT), assigned over service volume, and level of service (L.O.S.) that were projected by the B-A-A and for the present situation in Metropolitan Muncie.Overall proposed land-uses in the transportation study coincide well with the actual situation 1992. But commercial land-use growth along West Bethel Ave and McGsllinrd Ave in Metropolitan Muncie was not foreseen by the transportation study.Overall estimations of population and occupied dwelling units in Metropolitan Muncie agree well with the present situation. But in tract 9.01, 19.01, and 19.02 in north Metropolitan Muncie the present situation does not follow the transportation estimations closely and major differences appear between socio-economic estimations and the actual situation. Estimations of employment by the B-A-A are not closely with the present situation.Overall transportation estimates of average daily traffic volume and assigned over service volume in Metropolitan Muncie picture the present situation well on several roads but also not so well on the other roads. The B-A-A projections of Level of Service (L.O.S.) are very close with the present situation. / Department of Urban Planning

Thesis advisor: Dennis Shirley / In 1814, a group of wealthy Boston merchants led by Francis Cabot Lowell established the Boston Manufacturing Company in Waltham, Massachusetts. In the decades before the Civil War, Lowell and his partners constructed public schools for Waltham children living in the vicinity of the mills and paid many of the schools' educational expenses, including teachers' salaries. The company also promoted adult education through its establishment of the Manufacturers' Library and its support of the Rumford Institute for Mutual Instruction, one of the first lyceums in the United States. Previous research on the Boston Manufacturing Company has primarily focused on its unique labor force ("mill girls") and its role as America's first modern industrial corporation, while the story of the company's involvement in education has been neglected. Based on company records, school committee reports, newspaper accounts, Francis Lowell's personal correspondence, and other archival sources, this study highlights the forgotten history of corporate support for education in antebellum Waltham. The findings indicate that the support given to Waltham educational institutions by Francis Lowell and his business partners can be attributed to their patriotism, generosity, and belief in civic virtue. Implications for the history of American education, the Industrial Revolution, and twenty-first century public/private sector educational partnerships are addressed. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2012. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Teacher Education, Special Education, Curriculum and Instruction.

abstract: In the daily life of an individual problems of varying difficulty are encountered. Each problem may include a different number of constraints placed upon the problem solver. One type of problem commonly used in research are multiply-constrained problems, such as the compound remote associates. Since their development they have been related to creativity and insight. Moreover, research has been conducted to determine the cognitive abilities underlying problem solving abilities. We sought to fully evaluate the range of cognitive abilities (i.e., working memory, episodic and semantic memory, and fluid and crystallized intelligence) linked to multiply-constrained problem solving. Additionally, we sought to determine whether problem solving ability and strategies (analytical or insightful) were task specific or domain general through the use of novel problem solving tasks (TriBond and Location Bond). Results indicated that multiply-constrained problem solving abilities were domain general, solutions derived through insightful strategies were more often correct than analytical, and crystallized intelligence was the only cognitive ability that provided unique predictive value. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Psychology 2019