Research has revealed that job-related stress impacts on psychological and psychosomatic functioning with detriments to both individual and organisational level outcomes (Beehr, Jex, Stacy & Murray, 2000; Cooper, Kirkcaldy & Brown, 1994; Johnson & Cooper, 2003). As a result stress research has typically been associated with destructive consequences for the individual and organisation, thus highlighting the need to explore variables which may alleviate workplace stressors. This study aims to explore the potential moderating effects of individual cultural orientation and perceived organisational support on the relationship between role stressors (role conflict) and job satisfaction. One hundred and fifty-two men and women, employed by South African organisations, completed the multidimensional role conflict questionnaire, the horizontal and vertical individualism and collectivism scale, the survey of perceived organisational support and the job satisfaction survey. Results revealed that horizontal individualism interacting with person role conflict and intersender conflict had inverse moderating effects on job satisfaction, while perceived organisational support interacting with intersender and intrasender conflict had positive moderating effects on job satisfaction. Findings further indicated that a collectivist cultural orientation and perceived organisational support were related to increases in job satisfaction. Practical implications of the study and directions for future research are discussed.

Thesis advisor: Yvette D. Kuiper / Crystallographic Preferred Orientations (CPO) are common in deformed rocks, and usually result from crystal plastic deformation by dislocation creep. Whether deformation mechanisms that occur at lower differential stress and lower temperature than dislocation creep, such as Dissolution-Precipitation Creep (DPC), may result in the development of a CPO is less certain. DPC, a process also known as pressure-solution creep or dissolution creep, has caused substantial removal and reprecipitation of quartz within the Purgatory Conglomerate of Rhode Island. The conglomerate is exposed within the southeastern region of the Pennsylvanian Narragansett basin and experienced folding during the Alleghanian orogeny. Strain within the southeastern portion of the Narragansett basin increases from west to east and is associated with a metamorphic gradient from very low grade greenschist facies in the west to the lower biotite zone in the east. Within the Pugatory Conglomerate DPC has led to the dissolution of quartz along cobble surfaces perpendicular to the shortening direction, and to be precipitated as overgrowths at the ends of the cobbles (strain shadows), parallel to the maximum extension direction. This offers a unique opportunity to study the effects of dissolution and precipitation separately, because the quartz grains within the cobbles experienced dissolution only, while precipitation occurred in the strain shadows. Cathodoluminescence (CL) analysis was conducted on regions within the strain shadow in order to determine what amount of the quartz was formed authigenically. The results suggest that quartz-rich areas of the strain shadow were comprised primarily of authigenic quartz and formed channels or wedges. Electron Backscatter Diffraction (EBSD) analysis was used to test whether quartz dissolution processes within the cobbles and/or quartz precipitation within the strain shadows resulted in CPO development. Quartz grain c-axis orientations of various domains within the cobbles and strain shadows indicate that CPO patterns are absent in both domains of dissolution and of precipitation irrespective of the degree of strain or metamorphic grade. The existence of discrete mica selvages along the cobble margins suggests that quartz dissolution only occurred along the cobble surface and did not affect the grains, or result in a CPO, within the cobble's interior. Quartz precipitation within the strain shadows did not result in a CPO, probably because the strain shadows are truly localized regions of low strain with little to no differential stress, allowing quartz grain growth in random orientations. / Thesis (MS) — Boston College, 2010. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Geology and Geophysics.

Abstract This is a study of law and language; in particular an investigation into the language of judgments. The focus is on judgments as texts authored by judges. The main thinkers chosen as the theoretical basis are not experts in law – Michel Foucault, Mikhail Bakhtin, Norman Fairclough and Hayden White, for example. The reason for this choice is to consider the language of law from insights outside of law. Topics such as rhetoric, narrative, critical discourse analysis, intertextuality, interpretive communities, the monologic voice, oppositional reading, and power relations are seldom found in mainstream legal literature. The position taken is that judgments are texts which are no more privileged (simply because they are legal texts) than any others that a society creates. However, judgments are viewed by some as being special societal texts, coated with a patina of mystique because they are dealing with inviolate legal principles. The patina is removed enough to suggest that judges use various linguistic processes to shape their judgments in ways no different from other authors, notwithstanding that they are writing about ‘the law’. Judges are rhetoricians who use rhetoric to shape the facts, choose the most expedient legal principle, and incorporate views of society expedient to their opinion. The thrust of this study is to locate rhetoric at work within a specific sphere. The corpus consists of forty-four cases over a seventy-five year period dealing with sexual orientation. This area of law was chosen for a number of reasons. It is self-contained and lends itself to detailed examination. The topic is emotive which means more rhetorical techniques are at play than in a fairly technical area of law. There have been significant changes in the way sexual orientation has been treated in law over the years. It is interesting to trace how rhetoric facilitated that change. Lastly, we see how a judicial hegemony deals with an apolitical, splintered minority. Any categorical conclusions are impossible in an exploration of this kind. The findings, however, indicate that judges are not as restricted as is generally considered and that their judgments are shaped by employing linguistic techniques available to writers of both fact and fiction. The intention is to provide a fresh way of reading judgments, where observations gleaned in one area can be applied to other areas of law.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, Graduate School of Business Administration, 2014. / International competitiveness is the ability of a firm to sustain its international performance relative to competitors over time and in the future. This research examined the firm level factors that contribute to competitiveness of international new ventures (INVs). Specifically, the study investigated whether entrepreneurial and branding resources and capabilities greatly contribute to competitiveness of INVs. The study followed a positivist and quantitative methodological approach to establish the causalities and social order of competitiveness of INVs in Uganda. The purpose of the study was actualized through adopting a cross-sectional survey design. The study focused on INVs which are firms that internationalized their operations within the first ten (10) years of their establishment. These firms were drawn from the three major business sectors in Uganda including agribusiness, manufacturing and service firms involved in international activities ranging from exports, input sourcing (imports), foreign subsidiaries, franchises to international subcontracting. The survey instrument was delivered to 405 firms and information required was provided by three different groups of respondents in each firm. Owners-managers and employees assessed their firm’s entrepreneurial and branding resources and capabilities and international competitiveness in the last five (5) years and for the next three (3) years whereas customers evaluated brand advantage of firms and their products or services. The data collection process achieved a 77 percent response rate to the study. The study was non-experimental and adopted structural equation modelling and Average Moments of Structures (AMOS) to establish the causal relationships between the study variables. The study results reveal that brand orientation greatly contributes to international competitiveness whereas the interaction between entrepreneurial and branding resources and capabilities significantly enhances brand advantage of INVs. In addition, the study indicates that in the short run, brand advantage constrains the contribution of entrepreneurial and branding capabilities to competitiveness of INVs. The findings of this research provide knowledge on building and sustaining international competitiveness with specific implications for improving marketing and/or branding capabilities and utilization of entrepreneurial resources. The findings further support the dynamic capabilities theory in explaining competitiveness of INVs in Uganda. Keywords: Competitiveness, Entrepreneurial Capital, Entrepreneurial orientation, Brand orientation, Brand Advantage, International New Ventures, Uganda

According to the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) (2004), it is estimated that there is a total of 1.42 million active businesses in South Africa, 84 per cent of which are classified as “family business”. Internationally, family businesses account for 70 per cent of all international businesses and 35 per cent of Fortune 500 companies (Balshaw, 2004). Despite their economic importance, family businesses still find marketing to be a challenge. Relationships are at the heart of family businesses (Petzinger, 1999; Cooper, Upton and Seaman, 2005). This is because the fundamental DNA (Deoxyribonucleic Acid) a family business is based on a symbiotic relationship between the family and the business. Families, by virtue of their DNA, cultivate deep relationships with people, which include customers, suppliers and even competitors. Hence, in a family business context, these values are transferred into the business by the associated family. This relational approach is often utilised in the marketing strategies that they adopt. This study investigates some of the characteristics of relationship marketing that exist in South African family businesses. The results from the family businesses surveyed, indicates that they cultivate deep relationship with customers. This characteristic enables these businesses to be highly proficient at both satisfying and retaining customers. However, despite a culture of customer centricity, further findings indicate that such businesses are less proficient regarding their orientation with competitors, as they are often slow to respond to competition, in the market place. Lastly, the study indicates that family businesses cultivate and maintain a healthy relationship with employees; as such relationships is a prerequisite for customer satisfaction.

This study explores the relationship of entrepreneurial orientation and dynamic capabilities as organizations grow beyond country borders and into international markets. Through an extensive literature review of internationalization, entrepreneurial orientation and dynamic capabilities, a theoretical framework is developed that allow us to answer our research question. The study takes an abductive, comparative case study approach and is conducted on three Swedish SMEs in regard to their internationalization activites related to South Korea. The study proposes that there is an area in research that still contain a high degree of ambiguity which makes an understanding of the relationship between these two constructs difficult to define. The study’s findings report that the two constructs have complementary narratives of the same phenomenon which concedes a variety of possible relationships. The study then argues in support and rebuttal of five propositions of relationships.

Recent studies show that sea turtles use both magnetic and visual cues to successfully orient. Juvenile green sea turtles from the near shore reefs of Palm Beach County, Florida were brought to the lab to determine whether the sun could serve as a visual orientation cue. When tethered during the day in a large outdoor tank west of the ocean, the turtles oriented east to northeast. To determine whether the sun's position was used to maintain their heading, I altered the turtles' perception of time by entraining them to a light cycle advanced by 7 h relative to the natural cycle. When tested afterward in the same outdoor tank the turtles oriented northwest, the predicted direction after compensating for the sun's movement over 7 h across the sky. Orientation was unchanged when the turtles bore magnets that negated the use of magnetic cues. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that the turtles used the sun for orientation. / by Cody Robert Mott. / Thesis (M.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2010. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2010. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Thesis advisor: Michael G. Pratt / Despite calls to understand the micro-foundation of institutional theory and to understand how professional identity change relates to the broader macro context (e.g., Lok, 2010; Lepisto, Crosina and Pratt, forthcoming); exploration of the link between a field-level institutional change and the individual professionals' identity responses within the field remains. For this dissertation, I conducted an inductive qualitative study of French veterinarians and their reactions to "the Service Directive", a European Union regulation that re-categorizes veterinarians as "service providers" from "healthcare professionals." Drawing on interviews with practicing veterinarians, leaders of the field, observations, and archival data, my dissertation advances our understanding of professionals' responses to an institutional change which can potentially redefine what their profession is. My findings suggest that professionals negotiate an institutional change (in this case, the Service Directive) at the professional level before its formal implementation and before individual professionals within their organization engaged in any form of response. My dissertation introduces a model centered on understanding how veterinarians responded to this change at the individual level (and more particularly, in terms of identity) within their organization. This model suggests that individual professionals perceive the institutional regulatory change in hopeful, fearful or ambivalent manners. I found that these perceptions are influenced by professionals' work orientation and perceived organization's time orientation. Further, I found that these perceptions lead to different types of identity responses: identity expansion, identity maintenance, giving up a possible self, and de-emphasizing an existing identity. My research enriches emerging perspectives on identity responses to an institutional change by pointing out various identity responses and tying them to the perceptions of an institutional change. My research further suggests that such a change can be perceived as an opportunity, as a threat, or both, not solely as a threat. Furthermore, my dissertation introduces the notions of orientation (work orientation and perceived organization's time orientation) as key to the processing of an institutional trigger. Finally, it calls attention to an emotional processing of the institutional trigger. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2014. / Submitted to: Boston College. Carroll School of Management. / Discipline: Management and Organization.

Considerando o exercício da nossa prática, e a importância que a adolescência e a orientação sexual assumiram nos últimos anos, é que buscamos realizar o presente estudo. Nosso objetivo foi conhecer a percepção de alunos que haviam participado de um grupo de adolescentes com relação à dinâmica desses grupos e à orientação sexual, tendo como referencial teórico os aspectos conceituais da adolescência, sexualidade na adolescência, vulnerabilidade, orientação sexual, metodologia participativa e lúdica. Buscamos na abordagem qualitativa, uma alternativa metodológica para entender a realidade expressa através das percepções desses adolescentes. Do ponto de vista teórico e formal, optamos pela modalidade de Pesquisa Estratégica. Realizamos o estudo em uma escola municipal de Ribeirão Preto, tendo como atores sociais, alunos que participaram, de grupos de orientação nas 4ª séries. Com relação ao processo de trabalho de campo, para coleta de dados, utilizamos a técnica da entrevista semi-estruturada, tendo como técnica complementar a realização de grupos focais. O tratamento e análise dos dados foram feitos através da análise de conteúdo, elaborada por Bardin. A partir das falas dos atores sociais, pudemos identificar núcleos temáticos, relacionados ao lúdico, enquanto processo facilitador para a aquisição do conhecimento e reflexão; ao conteúdo abordado e a participação nos grupos, enquanto fator determinante para o seu futuro e um caminho para o diálogo intra familiar. / It is by considering our practice and the importance given to adolescence and sexual orientation in the last few years that we aim at accomplishing this study. Our purpose was to understand the perception of students who have already participated in a group of adolescents as to the dynamics of such groups and in relation to the sexual orientation. The conceptual aspects of adolescence, sexuality in adolescence, vulnerability, sexual orientation, participative and ludic methodology made up the theoretical framework of our study. In order to achieve our goal, we applied a qualitative approach, a methodological alternative to understand the reality expressed through the perceptions of these adolescents. From the theoretical and formal viewpoint, we chose the Strategic Research modality. We carried out the study in a municipal school in the City of Ribeirão Preto with social student-actors who, had participated in groups in the 4th graders. Concerning the field work process for data collection, we used semistructured interviews and the formation of focal groups as a complementary technique. The data analysis and treatment were carried out by means of the content analysis method, elaborated by Bardin. Based on the students\' discourse, we were able to identify thematic nuclei related to that which is ludic as a facilitating process in the acquisition of knowledge and reflection, to the approached content and the participation in the group as a determinant factor for their future and the possibility of intra-family dialogue.

The evolution of novel protein functions and protein families is a fundamental question within both evolutionary biology and biochemistry. While many gene families follow predictable patterns of molecular tinkering, many protein families exist with completely novel functions now essential. The guanylate kinase protein interaction domain (GKPID) of the membrane associated guanylate kinases (MAGUK) represents a model system for the study of protein evolution in which a protein scaffolding domain has evolved from a nucleotide kinase ancestor. Here we elucidate the ancient mechanisms by which these new functions evolved by combining ancestral protein reconstruction with in vitro and cell-biological molecular experiments. We found that the GKPID's capacity to serve as a mitotic spindle-orienting scaffold evolved by duplication and divergence of an ancient guanylate kinase enzyme before the divergence of animals and choanoflagellates. Re-introducing a single historical substitution into the ancestral guanylate kinase is sufficient to abolish the ancestral enzyme activity, confer the derived scaffolding function, and establish the capacity to mediate spindle orientation in cultured cells. This substitution appears to have revealed a latent protein-binding site, rather than constructing a novel interaction interface, apparently by altering the dynamics or conformational occupancy of a hinge region that determines whether the binding site is exposed or hidden. Three further substitutions also conveyed a measure of ligand specificity to phosphorylated Pins, which is necessary in metazoan spindle orientation pathways. These findings show how a small number of simple, ancient genetic changes caused the evolution of novel molecular functions crucial for the evolution of complex animals and laid the groundwork for an entirely new family of metazoan scaffolding proteins. This dissertation contains previously unpublished, co-authored material.