ISO 9001 has been world widely implemented in both manufacturing and service organizations. A lot of studies have been conducted to investigate the effects of ISO 9001 implementation on the performance of these organizations. Most of these studies show that ISO 9001 implementation realized positive operational improvements and financial success. Building on the merits of successful implementation of ISO 9001 quality management system in manufacturing and service, educational institutions have been attempted to adopt it in their operations. Even though there are studies relating ISO implementation to education, no research has been done to investigate the effects of ISO 9001 at the individual level. The objective of this research is to investigate the effects of ISO 9001 quality management implementation on the performance of administrators and teachers. The Indonesian vocational education system is selected as a case example as there is a significant number of such institutions in Indonesia that attempt to achieve ISO certification and there is a national need to improve the performance of vocational education. It is a challenge to assess objectively the degree of ISO 9001 implementation in this specific educational context because of the size and diversity. This study relies on survey that measures the respondents’ perception. Hence, this study applies a self-reported survey based performance measurement. The questionnaires are developed based on extensive literature review. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLSSEM) has been used to examine the relationships between the different elements of quality management systems, quality culture; administrator and teacher performances. The study is able to examine multiple interrelated dependence and subsequent relationships simultaneously among examined factors such as teacher and administrator performance, existing iv quality culture and ISO principles; and to incorporate variables that cannot be directly measured, such as leadership, for example. The findings of this study show that ISO 9001 implementation has positive significant effect on the performance of the vocational school administrator and teacher. The study also identifies key influencing elements of the ISO quality management system and examines their direct and indirect relationships with teacher and administrator performances. This study is expected to improve the current practices in implementing ISO and quality culture in any educational settings, specifically in the case of vocational educational system.

Many cultural and social psychological studies have been conducted at the societal level and at the individual level and generalised for all members in that society. This ignores the fact that there are many distinctive subgroups with their own subgroup cultures within a society. These subgroup cultures also have an influence on individuals, and need to be explored at an individual level. A survey in both English and Chinese was posted to 1,869 Chinese private equity professionals in the People’s Republic of China and Hong Kong and resulted in 376 responses. The survey measured the core values and beliefs of individualism, collectivism, power distance, social axioms, Machiavellianism, Confucianism, and preferred negotiation style for those who have had overseas exposure in Anglo-Saxon countries and those who have not. The theories employed in the study were institutional theory, the resource-based view, and social psychological theories. A partial least squares structural equation model was used to determine relationships. Significant differences between Chinese private equity professionals who have worked or studied in Anglo-Saxon countries and those who had not were found for individualism, vertical collectivism, Machiavellian control and status, three aspects of Confucianism, and also the controlling negotiation style. The model devised can be adapted for other societal subgroups to measure, not just preferred negotiation styles, but other important organizational relationship-dependent factors such as leadership style, decision-making, and trust. The model can be employed to further understand many types of organisations and industries anywhere in the world.

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<p> In this project we used structural equation modeling to analyze the data collected for the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) Cycle 1.2 - Mental Health and Well-Being conducted by Statistics Canada. The data are cross-sectional.</p> <p> We looked at the relation between depression and obesity adjusting for gender, socioeconomic status, gene-environment interactions, eating and physical activity and stress.</p> <p> We used the AMOS and Mplus softwares to analyze our data. The first one used continuous variables for depression ("persistence of depression", in years) and obesity ("body mass index"-BMI), while the second used categorical variables: lifetime depression, 12 month depression and obesity (normal weight, overweight and obese). We also used two variables to measure different aspects of stress: self-perceived ability to handle an unexpected problem and work stress-social support.</p> <p> We fitted the models across the entire data, but also across different groups: males versus females and groups based on gender and BMI.</p> <p> The results indicated that the relationship between depression and obesity is different across gender.</p> <p> The limitations of the study are also discussed. </p> / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

The demand for workers with college level training in computer related skills is growing rapidly. Although the number of computer science jobs is growing, the percentage of these jobs currently held by women is lower than in 1983 (Commission on Professionals in Science and Technology, 2004). The underrepresentation of women and minorities in postsecondary computing education has become a major national concern (Cohoon & Aspray, 2006). Despite a growing literature on women in STEM fields, there is a lack of theoretical development about women's participation and attrition in computer related majors. The findings are often inconsistent and there are few discipline-specific guidelines for policy. An important next step is to examine these insights with confirmatory quantitative methods. Larsen and Stubbs (2005) argue that efforts to increase diversity in computer fields should be broad-based and move beyond gender. Factors that are successful in attracting and retaining a diverse population of undergraduates in computer related majors will also benefit women and minorities. The purpose of this quantitative study was to develop and test a model of factors influencing the satisfaction and persistence of undergraduates in computer related majors at two universities in Virginia. There were three major independent constructs: academic, social, and institutional factors. Dependent constructs were persistence and satisfaction. The sample was a convenience sample of classes at differing academic levels. A total of 388 students in computer-related majors were surveyed during regularly scheduled class sessions. Data analysis was conducted using structural equation modeling (SEM) techniques. The goal of SEM is to determine the extent to which a theoretical model is supported by data. Both measurement and structural models were tested. Results indicate that these factors have significant and substantive effects on satisfaction and persistence. They highlight the importance of faculty, peers, and family support for student satisfaction and retention, and the need to examine instruction and content in computer related majors. The findings suggest the need for further work in the measurement of the constructs, and for further refinement of the final model. In addition, comparison of individual item means suggest that models may vary significantly among majors and between white and minority students. Future research should continue to test and refine the model for the influence of academic, social, and institutional factors on student satisfaction and persistence in computer related majors so that educators and policy makers can enhance the academic and social support structures for students in these majors. / Ph. D.

The goal of this research is to construct causal gene networks for genetical genomics experiments using expression Quantitative Trait Loci (eQTL) mapping and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). Unlike Bayesian Networks, this approach is able to construct cyclic networks, while cyclic relationships are expected to be common in gene networks. Reconstruction of gene networks provides important knowledge about the molecular basis of complex human diseases and generally about living systems. In genetical genomics, a segregating population is expression profiled and DNA marker genotyped. An Encompassing Directed Network (EDN) of causal regulatory relationships among genes can be constructed with eQTL mapping and selection of candidate causal regulators. Several eQTL mapping approaches and local structural models were evaluated in their ability to construct an EDN. The edges in an EDN correspond to either direct or indirect causal relationships, and the EDN is likely to contain cycles or feedback loops. We implemented SEM with genetics algorithms to produce sub-models of the EDN containing fewer edges and being well supported by the data. The EDN construction and sparsification methods were tested on a yeast genetical genomics data set, as well as the simulated data. For the simulated networks, the SEM approach has an average detection power of around ninety percent, and an average false discovery rate of around ten percent. / Ph. D.