Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Toronto, 2005.

Thesis--PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references.

Report (M.S.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1993. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaf 28). Also available via the Internet.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1974. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, 1983. / Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (p. 307-311).

The antiferromagnetic and spin-flop phases of MnCl‧4H₂O have been investigated by observing the nuclear orxentatxon of ⁵⁴Mn in that material. The sublattice magnetizations in the absence of an external field were found to lie in a direction between the a and c crystal axes at an angle of 11.5° ± 3.5° to the c axis. The field dependence of the spin configuration in the spin-flop state indicates that second order anisotropy is significant in this system. The molecular fields were determined by combining the results of this work with other measurements of the-critical fields (Rives and Benedict, 1975). The results are: the exchange field is 11.05 ± 0.21 KOe; the biaxial single ion anisotropy fields are 0.75 ± 0.22 KOe and 2.35 ± 0.23 KOe along the a* and b axes respectively; the second order anisotropy field is 1.45 ± 0.19 KOe and the anisotropic exchange field is 0.1 ± 0.3 KOe. The spin-flop transition region was found to be adequately described by a 'domain' structure in which regions of antiferromagnetic phase and regions of spin-flop phase co-exist in the crystal. Measurements were made of the temperature dependence of the spin-flop transition field and, contrary to the extrapolated results of Rives and Benedict (1975) , the spin-flop field was found to decrease with decreasing temperature from 0.3K to 0.15K. If there is a minimum in the transition field it must occur at lower temperatures. The cooling of the MnCl‧4H₂O crystal which was held in contact with a copper heat sink by Apiezon N grease was fitted to the relation Q = kA (T₁ⁿ-T₂ⁿ) where T₁ and T₂ are the temperatures of the crystal and copper heat sink respectively, and A is the contact area. For n = 4 the value obtained for the constant k is (8.2 ± 1.9) x 10³ ergK⁻⁴ sec⁻¹ cm⁻². Nuclear orientation experiments were also performed on the systems ¹⁰³Ru-Fe and ⁵⁹Fe-Fe. The gamma-ray anisotropies for these systems (at temperatures of 10 and 15 mK, respectively) were very small; however, it was possible to determine limits for the magnitudes of the nuclear magnetic moments of the active nuclei. The ¹⁰³Ru moment was found to be greater than 0.15uN and the ⁵⁹Fe moment was found to be less than 0.9uN. J.E. Rives and V. Benedict, Phys. Rev. B12, 1908 (1975). / Science, Faculty of / Physics and Astronomy, Department of / Graduate

No description available.

Models of the neural basis of visually guided behavior suggest that the mammalian brain has two independent visual systems: one involved in pattern vision, and the other involved in orienting to visual stimuli. Orienting was measured in this series of studies by examining both the thirsty rat's ability to disrupt licking in response to the presentation of visual and auditory displays and the animal's head and postural responses to the displays. Habituation of orienting behavior with repeated presentation of a display, and dishabituation to the subsequent introduction of changes in it were also examined. The effect on this behavior of variously sized cortical and subcortical lesions of the visual system and the influence of extrinsic and intrinsic variables were assessed. The investigation revealed that lesions of the superior colliculus do not result in visual agnosia or the inability to perform the appropriate motor responses involved in orienting; rather, while the orienting response is available in the behavioral repertoire of the lesioned animal, it is not always emitted in response to the visual displays that the intact animals treat as less salient. The superior colliculus lesioned animals do orient to and localize visual displays which are more salient for the intact animal. Further, the deficit in orienting to the "less" salient stimulus displays can be reduced or eliminated by changing the degree of water deprivation prior to testing and they are capable of using this display as a signal of shock. Lesions restricted to a very small portion of the lateral edges of the deep layers of the superior colliculus and the dorsal tegmentum had the same consequences as superior colliculus lesions, while lesions which included only the superficial layers of the superior colliculus did not. Lesions of the striate and extrastriate cortex did not significantly affect orienting behavior. Rats with lesions of the superficial or deep layers of the superior colliculus and rats with lesions including area 7 of cortex as well as the striate and extrastriate cortex, did,however, habituate more quickly than intact animals to the repeated presentation of the visual displays, and generally did not dishabituate in response to the changes in the visual displays. These findings suggest a relationship-between the cortex, the superficial layers, and the deep layers of the superior colliculus and the ability of animals to shift attention within a stimulus modality. The deep layers of the superior colliculus may also be important for shifts of attention between stimulus modalities (Jane, Levey, & Carlson, 1972). Overall, these results were discussed with regard to a possible modulating role of the superior-colliculus and cortex in orienting behavior and in terms of the parameters of orienting which must be taken into account in the development of an adequate model of the neural basis of orienting behavior. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

Most hospitals orient new graduate nurses and experienced nurses in the same generalized orientation programs. To address the cost of orientation to specialty units, a pediatric hospital developed a tailored transitional residency orientation program for experienced nurses. The purpose of this project was to describe, compare, and evaluate the existing generalized orientation program and the transitional orientation program to determine how the orientations differed in structure, process, and outcomes. Donabedian's model assessing quality of care services and Benner's novice-to-expert theoretical framework served as guides in evaluating the orientation outcomes. Qualitative data about residency classroom time, preceptor selection and time, mentor selection and time, debriefing, and total length of orientation were collected for the generalized and transitional programs. The findings were that interview process and time, classroom time, mentor time, debriefing time, and length of orientation were decreased in the new transitional orientation program. Orientation costs were less for the transitional program than the generalized program ($20,000 to $30,000 versus $50,000 per nurse, respectively) and nursing staff retention was better for the transitional program than the generalized program (90% versus 68%). The generalized orientation and separate transitional orientation have resulted in a social change by delivering cost-effective orientation to both novice and experienced nurses. Outcomes will be of interest to hospital human resource departments and nurses who conduct orientation programs.

Firms’ top decision makers cannot possibly know what decisions to make. Rather, decision makers must interpret their situations and make the best possible decision based upon their interpretation of their situations. In this dissertation, I examine decision-makers’ goal orientations as influencing how they interpret their situations and then respond through making decisions in terms of their firms’ entrepreneurial orientations. I also examine whether these decisions influence firm performance. I surveyed top firm decision makers in the Association of Former Students’ database at Texas A and M University. The hypotheses were tested using a structural equation modeling. Using a sample of 273 firms, I find that decision-makers’ goal orientations shape their firm’s entrepreneurial orientations, which in turn influence firm growth, relative performance, and expected future performance. Possessing a learning goal orientation was found to be positively related to innovativeness, proactiveness, and risk taking. A performance prove goal orientation was positively related to innovativeness, whereas a performance avoid goal orientation was negatively related to innovativeness and risk taking. Only a proactive firm posture was found to be positively related to firm performance. The results for this dissertation provide compelling support for upper echelons theory. Decision-makers’ finer-grained personal attributes are found to shape firm-level outcomes. More specifically, decision-makers’ goal orientations are found to shape the firm’s entrepreneurial orientation and, to some extent, performance. Interestingly, coarse-grained personal attributes captured in demographic proxies and used as control variables in the analyses did not provide consistent support for upper echelons theory. The results suggest that scholars need to take a finer-grained perspective of upper echelons theory. A substantial amount of research has established the link between individuals’ goal orientations and how they interpret and respond to their situations. The research here has extended this relationship to the top decision-making context in firms where individuals face strong situational forces caused by uncertainty, complexity, and dynamism. I hope that this research encourages other scholars to (1) examine more complex models of how decision-makers’ personal attributes influence their entrepreneurial decisions in terms of both recognizing and exploiting opportunities, and (2) examine other finer-grained attributes of top decision makers within a finer-grained framework of the decision-making process.