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<p>Localization of speech onsets to determine onset latencies is a complicated problem with as many different methods for finding them as there are different areas which use such measurements. A majority of research performed in cognition uses a standard amplitude threshold voice key for estimating the speech onset latencies but a number of studies have shown that this method is incredibly inaccurate and can bias data or produce contradictory results. A number of alternative methods based on modifications to traditional voice-keys have been proposed to deal with the inconsistency although still show a number of deficiencies. Previous work has suggested that switching from the amplitude domain of a signal to the frequency domain a number of the issues present with voice keys can be overcome and when used in conjunction with a number of highly sensitive heuristics highly accurate onset latencies can be produced reliably under ideal conditions. This research is refined and paired with a new user interface to improve the ease of use and increase the adoption rate of this type of analysis. Recent work in the telecommunications industry also suggests that wavelet-based algorithms in conjunction with the Teager Energy Operator (TEO) can accurately detect speech even in the presence of noise. Four wavelet-based methods are investigated and tested; a simple wavelet transform test, and three methods using wavelet-packet transforms in conjunction with the TEO. Although these methods do not perform very well compared to traditional methods a number of potential issues with the implementation are discussed.</p> / Master of Science (MSc)

The literature is lacking in studies that examine self-concept and language status among individuals older than adolescence. The purpose of this study is to conduct a quantitative nonexperimental comparative design to examine differences in self-concept and language status (monolingual or bilingual) between male and female undergraduate students in California. A total of 97 participants were examined in the study. The researcher conducted descriptive statistics on the demographics as well as a MANOVA and an ANOVA to answer the proposed research question. Based on the findings presented, the researcher failed to reject the null hypothesis of research question 1: There is no difference between monolingual and bilingual males and females in the self-concept areas of Behavioral Adjustment (BEH), Freedom from Anxiety (FRE), Happiness and Satisfaction (HAP), Intellectual and School Status (INT), Physical Appearance and Attributes (PHY), Social Acceptance (SOC), and Total Score (TOT). In order to contribute to the literature, future research should continue to examine self-concept and language among older populations and perhaps consider conducting a longitudinal study to look at self-concept over periods of transition.

According to self-expansion theory, there is an innate drive to gain new resources, identities, and perspectives, which causes people to seek and maintain interpersonal relationships. However, an individual’s relationship partners may come into conflict with each other. In the current research, 656 adults in established monogamous romantic relationships completed an online questionnaire about romantic partners asking them to give up a friendship. The researcher explored the prevalence of this friendship interference phenomenon and its relationship to sources of self-expansion. The amount of self-expansion provided by a friendship was manipulated through vignettes. Additional measures assessed the relationship between amount of self-expansion provided by the partner and gained independently as well as desire for self-expansion on willingness to give up the proposed friendship. Further measures assessed whether a current or previous partner had requested a friendship termination, partner’s reasoning given for the request, whether the participant acquiesced to the request, and the degree to which the request contributed to break-up. Results showed that about 1/3 of people had been asked by a romantic partner to terminate a friendship, with 73% asked acquiescing to a current partner’s request, and 34% acquiescing to a previous partner’s request. Contrary to what was predicted, no gender difference was found for rate of acquiescence to partner’s request for friendship termination. Sexual orientation, age, and desire for self-expansion significant predicted willingness to give up a friendship. Additionally, participants were mostly willing to give up the friendship when their partnership was highly self-expanding but the friendship was not, and willingness declined when the friendship was highly self-expanding, regardless of how self-expanding the partnership.

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the influence of adult attachment styles on the engagement of employees in an attempt to address increasing losses in U.S. work productivity. Researchers have documented that organizations able to maintain better manager-employee relationships demonstrated positive employee engagement and improved productivity. However, a distinct gap in the literature remains as to how organizational leaders can stimulate healthier manager-employee relationships. Adult attachment theory was used as the foundation to explore how employees' relationships with their immediate manager affect their work engagement. To address this question, a purposeful sample of 16 full time mid level employees who had a direct line reporting relationship to an immediate manager were selected from various industries across the United States. The Experiences of Close Relationship Relationship Structures questionnaire was used to assess the employee's attachment style prior to in-depth interviews being performed to gather rich data on their lived experiences. Interview data was analyzed using the modified 7-step Van Kaam method of phenomenological analysis. Two themes emerged: employees have a need for purpose and value, and employees require varying levels of dependency. These findings indicate that managers must cater to the attachment needs of the employee to positively address productivity losses. Implications for positive social change pertain to both the financial benefits derived from an increase in industry productivity and profitability levels due to improvements in employee engagement, as well as the recovery of employees' commitment to the workplace through the provision of a healthy work environment.

Public safety radio dispatchers incontrovertibly have to manage multiple tasks at any given time, from relaying lifesaving information to field units, to simultaneously overseeing several monitors and keeping up with the radio transmissions in a timely manner. Interestingly, however, the underlying cognitive abilities necessitated for performing such tasks have not been thoroughly investigated. To begin understanding the cognitive faculties that underlie dispatching tasks, we gauged cognitive ability measures relevant to dispatcher duties and introduced Working Memory Capacity (WMC) as underlying the differentiation on performance. The four general dispatcher cognitive factors identified by Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) literature, were Reasoning, Perceptual, Memory, and Verbal. This study substantiated the relationship that higher WMC had on increased performance of the four factors; WMC was a strong predictor of overall cognitive task accuracy. This study also measured dispatcher abilities detached from any dispatcher-like duties, to better explore the cognitive underpinnings without the confound of dispatcher-like tasks within the measures. High and low WMC group comparisons also revealed accuracy differences in cognitive abilities, task switching costs, and dual-task interference. Overall, this study provides support for WMC’s executive functioning as a key underlying mechanism determining dispatcher cognitive ability level.

Understanding safety factors in construction is critical to reducing accident frequency and severity. Grounded in the safety performance model, this study was conducted to examine the impact of psychological capital (PsyCap), which consists of the shared variance of hope, efficacy, resilience and optimism, and Past, Present, and Future thinking perspectives, on safety climate and performance. A nonexperimental quantitative design was used to determine whether PsyCap and thinking perspectives of construction project employees predicted safety performance and/or moderated the relationship between safety climate and performance across construction sites in different countries. 411 construction employees were recruited via a multistage and clustering strategy and took part in the study. The PsyCap Questionnaire, MindTime Profile Inventory, Group-Level Safety Climate Scale, and Safety Performance Measure were used to assess PsyCap, thinking perspectives, safety climate, and safety performance. Multiple regression was used to determine the effects of PsyCap and thinking perspectives on safety climate and safety performance. Results showed that Future and Present thinking predicted PsyCap as well as safety climate and safety performance in the construction industry. Further, safety performance accounted for variations in hope and efficacy, two PsyCap components. Findings might be used to influence thinking perspectives of team leaders in designing training, developing employees' efficacy levels, and preventing accidents and fatalities on construction sites.

Women in the U.S. workforce have been a focus of scholars since the onset of the 21st century, when work-life balance skewed in favor of the term work-life integration because professional working mothers found that balance was an unachievable ideal in the fast pace of the contemporary world. Accordingly, this research study examined the work-life challenges and career choices of women working in the public sector through the framework of the Kaleidoscope Career Model (KCM). While research has been conducted on women in corporate America, there have been limited studies exploring the work-life challenges and career decisions of women working in government. The study design was phenomenological with convenience sampling of women working for state government agencies. Data were collected through a structured interview and demographic questionnaire. Data from the 7 participants were analyzed using the KCM theory and considering Mainiero and Sullivan's A-authenticity, B-balance, C-challenge parameters. Overall, findings indicated that women working in state government chose and remained in their jobs because of stability, security, and benefits. These women did not opt-out, as is common for corporate workers, because they received the flexibility and benefits required to integrate work-life balance. Corporate human resources might explore needs of their own workers using the KCM framework. Policies to retain workers might include more flexibility in scheduling and benefits for workers. This work extends applicability of the KCM to a population of which it has not been used.

In the United States, 397,000 children received foster care services in 2012. Some states successfully achieved permanent homes for children with diagnosed disabilities who exited care while others were less successful. Using change theory and social ecological theory as the foundations, the purpose of this study was to determine the impact that diagnosed disabilities had on permanent home placements among Pennsylvania's foster care children who were discharged and were between ages of 0 to 6 years in 2012. Hernandez's and Hodges's theory of change was used to evaluate the 1982 standards that license foster care agencies, while Stokol's ecological theory provided the framework to assess whether there were measurable increases in child welfare outcomes for permanent placements among children with diagnosed disabilities. Following a retrospective, nonexperimental, quantitative design, data were acquired from a purposive sample of 344 archived foster care files across the state. These data were analyzed using bivariate correlation procedures to evaluate the strength of the relationship between medically diagnosed conditions and permanent placement. The findings indicated a statistically significant association between medically diagnosed conditions and permanent placements (p=0.01). Additionally, length of stay in care was also found to be statistically associated with permanent placement (p=0.019). The theoretical constructs evaluation with a theory of change found the 1982 standards were outdated to authorize the licensing of foster care agencies; the social ecological theory identified evidence for change to achieve the intended goal. Findings of this study may provide guidance to policymakers in term of improving standards related to oversight and licensing foster care agencies in order to better support permanent placement of children with disabilities.

A comparative review of statistical summary results of the Survey of Army Families demonstrated that there is a gap in the research on the emotional experiences of civilian military wives who do not participate in the Family Readiness Group (FRG). The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to supplement the limited amount of scholarly research on the emotional experiences of civilian military wives and their lack of participation in the FRG during the deployment cycle. The theoretical framework of this study explored the military family syndrome through application of the double ABCX model in examining this phenomenon. The foundational research question inquired about the deployment-related emotional experiences of civilian military wives who do not participate in a FRG. Phenomenological interviews with 5 civilian military wives narrowed the gap in research as their specific experiences with the FRG of their soldier's unit were analyzed and coded to identify different categories and themes. Study results suggested that familiarity with the deployment cycle was a crucial determinant in how civilian military wives experience the deployment cycle and perceive the use of the FRG as a source of support. The perceived detached communication and engagement of the FRG organization and its leaders were also found to be contributing factors to civilian military spouse participation. The implications of these findings for positive social change are to inform FRG leadership of the importance of addressing the needs of new and seasoned civilian military wives to foster a more favorable perception of the organization and to promote the potential participation of new members.