The purpose of the current study was to categorize workplace aggression into nine subtypes based on human aggression and workplace aggression literature, and to examine gender differences in engaging in these subtypes of workplace aggression. Data collected from 366 employed students showed that a significant gender difference was found only in direct workplace aggression and there were no gender differences in the other eight workplace aggression subtypes; verbal, direct, and passive workplace aggression was more frequently used than physical, indirect and active workplace aggression, respectively. Data collected from 83 employee-supervisor pairs showed that compared to supervisors' reports, female employees' self-reports tended to be higher in all eight subtypes of workplace aggression (relational workplace aggression was excluded), while male employees' self-reports were only higher in passive workplace aggression than their supervisors' reports. Male supervisors were found to report more subordinates' verbal, direct, active, and interpersonal workplace aggression than female supervisors, and male employees were reported by their immediate supervisors to engage in more active workplace aggression. Implications, limitations and conclusions were discussed.

This dissertation investigates three interrogative sentence types that are each associated with a particular speaker bias. In asking one of these questions, the speaker invariably conveys a prior expectation, or belief, that a specific answer to the question is the true one. These sentence types include reversed-polarity tag questions, negative polar questions, and questions containing a strong negative polarity item or a constituent that is emphatically focused. For each of these three question types, I address the two questions: (1) What kind of meaning is bias; and (2) what grammatical feature, if any, is the bias linked to? In answer to the first question, I argue that bias is an assertion (rather than, for example, a conversational implicature). As a result, biased questions can be thought of as a type of indirect speech act (Searle 1975). Following Asher and Lascarides (2001), I model biased questions as instances of a complex speech act type Assertion · Question. On this analysis, biased questions are simultaneously assertions and questions. I provide evidence, for this claim, showing these question types share distributional properties of both assertions and questions. With regard to the second question, I argue that intonation, in addition to syntax and compositional and lexical semantics, plays a key role in linking the use of the kind of interrogative sentence described above to an assertion. Indeed, one of the benefits to studying biased questions is that they provide a case study of the interaction of intonation and discourse function. I begin to develop an analysis of intonation within the theory of discourse provided by Asher and Lascarides (2003) which builds on the work of Pierrehumbert and Hirschberg (1990) and Steedman (2000, 2003), amongst others. Specifically, I argue that intonation provides information about the speakers cognitive state, i.e. about his or her beliefs and intentions. Thus intonation contributes information that can be used to compute the rhetorical contribution of an utterance to a discourse or dialogue. On this model, intonation indirectly contributes to the determination of the discourse function of an utterance. / text

Obesity is the most prevalent nutritional disorder in cats (Felis catus; Hoenig et al., 2011). High carbohydrate diets, prescribed for weight loss, may contribute to adiposity (Thiess et al., 2004). The effects of a high fat (HF; 30% fat, 10% carbohydrate), high carbohydrate (HC; 10% fat, 46% carbohydrate) and a moderate diet (15% fat, 30% carbohydrate) supplemented with a calorie restriction mimetic (mannoheptulose (MH); 8 mg/kg BW), fed to energy requirements, on feline metabolism and behaviour were investigated (n=20; 4 ± 2.5 kg). An 11 week acclimation procedure was designed to adapt cats to 24-hr restriction within a chamber used for indirect calorimetry. Stress indicative behaviour (Kessler and Turner, 1997) declined with repreated exposure to increasing lengths of restriction within chambers and on week 11 stress levels were low and consistent (P<0.05). Neither the HF nor HC diet impacted body weight (p>0.05); however, HF feeding caused an increase in body fat (0.75 kg (baseline) vs. 1 kg (86d)) after long-term feeding. Energy expenditure (EE) was not impacted by dietary fat/carbohydrate. Respiratory quotients (RQ) increased and decreased with exposure to the HC (fasted= 0.80 ± 0.008; fed= 0.87 ± 0.008), HF (fasted= 0.76 ± 0.008; fed= 0.78 ± 0.008) diet, respectively. Glucose to insulin (G:I) ratio increased with HF feeding; indicating improved insulin sensitivity. Physical activity, measured using accelerometers, declined with HF (-1.6 counts/hr) and HC (-2.8 counts/hr) feeding from baseline. T-maze performance decreased and increased with HF (-0.85 score/10) and HC (0.85 score/10) feeding from baseline (p<0.05). MH did not impact body weight or composition (p>0.05). Area under the curve for EE increased during the 15-22 hour post feeding with MH treatment (2370.3 (-MH) vs. 3292.0 (+MH) ± 0.0002). RQ and G:I were not impacted by MH (p>0.05). MH increased play motivation, measured using obstruction tests (p<0.05). Diets high in carbohydrate are not ideal for weight loss since they negatively impact insulin sensitivity and voluntary EE. Diets promoting elevated EE, activity and normal glucose/insulin profiles are ideal for weight control and MH offers a unique opportunity for use in weight loss regimes. / This work was funded by Procter and Gamble Co.

The error choice (EC) technique was among the earliest indirect attitude measures developed and was originally designed to overcome social desirability concerns (Hammond, 1948). This programme of research set out to advance EC research in several ways. First, an exploratory factor analysis examined whether participants’ responses to the EC target items produced a systematic pattern of responding. The factor analysis indicated that a single underlying factor best accounted for the data. Additionally, the EC measure demonstrated good reliability across the 3 studies. Second, these studies provided evidence that the EC measure is, at least in part, attitudinal. The EC measure showed a modest positive correlation with the direct measure of attitude in all 3 studies. This suggested that participants’ responses to the EC target items were, at least partially, attitudinal. Additionally, across the studies participant’s EC scores did not change between the high and low social desirability conditions, while participants’ scores on the direct measure were significantly more positive in the high social desirability condition. These findings suggest that the EC measure is, to some degree, resistant to socially desirable responding. Studies 2 and 3 also represent the first time that recommendations made by early EC researchers to improve the EC technique were systematically examined. In these studies the amount of time participants had to complete the EC measure was restricted. The time restriction did not improve the performance of the EC measure. The other optimal condition examined in Study 3 was the presence and absence of filler items in the EC measure. Indeed, removing filler items from the EC measure did not negatively impact its performance. Finally, this programme of research compared the EC measure with more contemporary indirect measures of attitude. In Study 2, the Implicit Association Test (IAT) was compared with the EC and direct measure. In Study 3, the Personalized IAT was compared to the EC and direct measure. The results revealed that neither the IAT nor PIAT correlated with the EC measure. In summary, these results suggest the EC technique holds some promise as an approach to attitude measurement and is well worth resurrecting. / Thesis (Ph.D, Psychology) -- Queen's University, 2010-04-21 09:32:11.904

This thesis explores an applicative approach to two constructions in Chinese: the “oblique object” construction and the double object construction (DOC). The DP following the verb in an “oblique object” construction has generally been viewed as an object of the verb; however, its properties, especially object-associated properties, have not been tested systematically. This study tests the properties of the oblique object, and finds that the oblique object in the “oblique object” construction differs from a typical theme object in a range of syntactic properties. Pylkkänen (2002) hypothesizes that applicatives fall into two categories, high applicatives and low applicatives. Syntactically, the high applicative head is merged above the VP, with the VP as complement and the applied argument as specifier; semantically, high applicatives denote a relation between the applied argument and the event described by the VP. Low applicatives are base-generated within the VP, merging with the direct object as complement and the applied argument as specifier; semantically, a low applied argument bears a transfer-of-possession relation to the direct object. According to Huang (2007), Chinese has two types of DOCs, giving DOCs and stealing DOCs. Giving DOCs indicate situations in which the indirect object is given something or some advantage; stealing DOCs express situations in which the indirect object suffers some loss, or is adversely affected. In analyzing Chinese DOCs from an applicative approach on the basis of Pylkkänen’s high/low applicative hypothesis, Cheng and Wen (2008) suggest that Chinese DOCs are high applicatives, while Sun and Li (2010) suggest that they are low applicatives. This thesis suggests a finer classification of Chinese DOCs, and shows that Chinese DOCs include both high and low applicatives. Specifically, giving DOCs can be analyzed as low recipient applicatives. Stealing DOCs in which the indirect object bears a possessive relation to the theme can be analyzed as low source applicatives, and stealing DOCs in which the indirect object bears no direct semantic relation to the theme correspond to high malefactive applicatives. / Graduate

This study looks at the effectiveness of direct and indirect written corrective feedback (WCF) when using them with 26 intermediate ESL learners’ writings. The study also investigates whether giving the learners the type of feedback they preferred or less preferred would influence their actual performance. WCF, a pedagogy that is often used when helping learners improve their written accuracy, has captured researchers’ attention in recent decades. Truscott (1996) claimed that WCF is ineffective and suggested teachers should abandon it. Therefore, in the early studies, researchers concentrated on examining the effectiveness of WCF, in order to justify the value of using WCF. In recent studies, researchers have proved that WCF is effective in certain contexts, and they have also investigated the value of using different types of WCF, and the value of using it over time. Moreover, in order to help learners to improve in written accuracy, recent studies in the field have also investigated whether WCF is more effective when used on a certain type of linguistic form/structure. With respect to different types of WCF, researchers in recent decades have also paid some attention to learner preference in WCF. However, the relationship between learner preference and the value of using the type of feedback learners prefer has not yet been investigated. In essence, the relationship between learner preference and their actual performance when using the type of feedback they preferred was examined in this study. The study also aimed to look at the effectiveness of WCF over time, and to investigate whether direct feedback or indirect feedback helped learners better. Furthermore, the study also aimed to investigate whether there was a certain type of linguistic form that WCF works best with. A quantitative approach was used in this study in order to show the results more clearly, and to provide statistical evidence on each finding. The study involved questionnaires, and three writing tests: pre-test, immediate post-test, and a delayed post-test. Before the learners did the pre-test, they were asked to complete a questionnaire to select their preferred type of feedback (direct feedback or indirect feedback). Based on their preferences on feedback, they were put into different groups. Group one received direct feedback; group two received indirect feedback; group three received the feedback they preferred (indirect feedback); group four received no linguistic feedback, but general commentaries on their writing were given. The participants (twenty-six students who enrolled in a general English program at AUT University) had completed the questionnaire and the three writing tests. Findings from the study revealed that, most of the learners preferred receiving direct feedback. When examining learner performance between those who received the type of feedback they preferred and those who did not, the former did not outperform than others. However, factors like different levels of scaffolding assistance may have affected the results. Other findings from the study revealed that WCF was effective overtime, especially when using it on errors of present simple tense. The study also found that indirect feedback was more effective than direct feedback. A possible factor that appeared to influence learners’ performance was identified as learners’ motivation in learning. The results of the study contribute to an understanding of the type of feedback that is most suitable for learners at intermediate level, and on which type of linguistic form WCF can work best with. Practical suggestions for pedagogy and further research are also made.

Mémoire (M.Ling.)--Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, 1996. / Document électronique également accessible en format PDF. CaQCU

Überarbeitete und gekürzte Fassung von: Diss.--Fachbereich II "Kommunikation/Ästhetik"--Universität Oldenburg, 1986.

Thesis--Catholic University, 1971. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 225-232).

Indirect procurement is becoming one of the most challenging function in food processing organizations, which need strategies to enhance supply chain sustainability. Food processing organizations could expect more than 50% maverick indirect costs out of the 80% procurement cost from total annual costs. The focus of the research question was on strategies procurement managers responsible for food processing indirect procurement could use to enhance supply chain sustainability. The conceptual framework for this study was resource dependency theory, and the purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies some procurement managers responsible for food processing indirect procurement could use to enhance supply chain sustainability. Face-to-face semistructured interviews were used from 2 procurement managers from food processing organizations in Nairobi, Kenya, who were recorded and gave responses to 9 interview questions. Data were transcribed, coded, and analyzed into themes. Data were triangulated and then subjected to member checking to ensure reliability and strengthen credibility of collected data. The data revealed 2 major themes, which included, indirect procurement strategies, and resource availability. The identification of indirect procurement strategies was important because participants believed stakeholder partnering and collaboration in formulating procurement strategies could enhance value for money in indirect procurement. The resource availability was important to enhance supply chain sustainability. Implications for social change include cost reduction in the supply chain, increasing organization profits, lower products costs, which could improve economic, and social benefit.