Aims: To study practices and procedures with respect to electrotherapy in physiotherapy departments and to study physiotherapists’ perception of health risk, health consequences and protection of health from different risks including electromagnetic field emissions from electrotherapy devices. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in three phases from June 2002 to December 2003. The first phase was an audit of the practices and procedures regarding electrotherapy in National Health Service physiotherapy departments (N = 46 including 7 departments in pilot study) located in 12 counties in the southeast and southwest of England including Greater London. The second phase comprised one observational visit to each of the same physiotherapy departments to characterise their occupational environment. The third phase was a questionnaire survey of 584 physiotherapists working in these departments. Variables concerned perception of health risk, health consequences and protection of health associated with different risk factors. Results: In the first two phases, the recruitment rate of the departments was 80.7% (46 out of 57) and response rate of those recruited was 100% (n=46). The response rate for the last phase of the study was 66.8% (390 out of 584). Results of the practices and procedures audit show that ultrasound was the most common form of electrotherapy while microwave diathermy was neither available nor used in these departments. Pulsed shortwave diathermy was used 4-5 days per week while continuous shortwave diathermy was used rarely. Electrotherapy was provided to up to 50% of patients per week in the departments. The observational visits to the departments revealed that there were metallic objects within close proximity of diathermy equipment and wooden treatment couches for treatment with PSWD and CSWD were rare. The risk perception survey showed that physiotherapists generally perceived a moderate health risk and health consequences (harm) from exposure to EMF emissions from electrotherapy devices. Protection from EMFs in physiotherapy departments was generally perceived as ‘usually’ possible. Conclusions: Physiotherapy departments report safe electrotherapy practices. Use of diathermy devices that use RF EMFs is declining. The key predictors of physiotherapists’ perception of health risk were perception of health consequences and vice versa. Gender was a significant predictor of the perception of health risks and health consequences. The main predictor of perception of protection against risk was the knowledge of environmental and health issues. Latent dimensions of perceptions of health risk, health consequences and protection from risk were identified and confirmed and their predictors were determined.

SMEs are often described as slow adopters of technology. However, adopting e-commerce is one of many strategies taken by travel agents to re-intermediate themselves in the global travel market against the threat of disintermediation. Exploratory studies have revealed that Egyptian travel agents are laggards when it comes to technology adoption, although they perceive e-commerce as a beneficial tool that can increase their chances of survival. As many as 59.2% of Egyptian travel agents were found not to have websites (Egyptian Travel Agents Association, 2008), this study investigates the factors affecting e-commerce adoption by travel agents. Past literature has shown that there are three main factors affecting the adoption of e-commerce by SMEs. Environmental pressures push SMEs to adopt in order to bolster their survival chances. The benefits of adoption are critical factors considered by managers when making the adoption decision. Finally, there are barriers to e-commerce adoption. By modifying the technology acceptance model, this research conceptualizes the causal relationships amongst these three types of factors. The benefits and barriers to e-commerce adoption are found to mediate the relationship between environmental pressures and e-commerce adoption. This study employs mixed methods starting with a quantitative survey and following it up with qualitative interviews. A questionnaire was used to collect data from 411 adopter and non-adopter e-commerce travel agents. Later, 22 interviews were conducted with the managers of travel agents. Structural equation modelling produced findings reveal that environmental pressures significantly affect the perceived benefits of and barriers to adoption, in addition to having an indirect effect on adoption behaviour. This study contributes to theory as it responds to the claim that the factors affecting e-commerce adoption have not been well documented in the travel sector (Hung et al., 2011, Thomas et al., 2011), especially in the context of developing countries (Thulani et al., 2010). The findings reveal that the modified technology acceptance model successfully interprets e-commerce adoption. The study compares other adoption models with the research model and provides statistical criteria for this comparison. Its contribution to practice is twofold, affecting the managers of travel agencies and policy makers. Recognizing the factors affecting adoption would enable managers to devise strategies and prepare better agendas for expanding their businesses, while at the same time identifying any defects and training needs that present barriers. Meanwhile, recognizing the barriers to adoption could encourage government bodies and policy makers to implement appropriate measures, such as introducing protective and financial legislation to encourage SMEs to adopt technology, or to formulate national policies and initiatives aimed specifically at supporting the adoption of e-commerce by SMEs.

Intercollegiate athletics are a prominent feature of American higher education. They have been characterized as the “front door” to the university due to their unique ability to draw alumni and other supporters to campus. It is often supposed that the exposure from high-profile athletics produces a number of indirect benefits including greater institutional prestige. Such exposure comes at a cost, however, as most Division I athletics programs are not financially self-sufficient and receive institutional subsidies to balance their budgets. At present, it is unclear how institutions budget for athletics subsidies or whether the recent increases in subsidies have impacted the overall financial picture of colleges and universities. Prior research has shown that athletics subsidies and student tuition and fees are not significantly correlated for public Division I institutions, which suggests the possibility that institutions have reallocated funds from other core areas to athletics. In this dissertation, the relationship between athletics subsidies and one of the most important core areas of the university – education and related activities – was examined. This relationship was investigated using fixed-effects structural equation models to analyze a panel dataset of public Division I institutions. It was found that total athletics subsidies (school funds and student fees) per student and education and related spending per student were positively correlated. This suggests that rather than decrease educational spending, institutions that increase total athletics subsidies have simultaneously increased their educational expenditures. However, in the analyses involving the more restrictive definition of athletics subsidies, it was shown that athletics subsidies from school funds was not correlated with educational spending. The results also provided some evidence that differences in the relationship between athletics subsidies and educational spending exist according to Carnegie classification and level of athletics competition. The findings from this study have a number of implications for higher education policy and future research. The absence of a negative relationship between athletics subsidies and educational spending suggests that athletics subsidies are not associated with decreases in educational spending that could ultimately harm the quality of education provided by colleges and universities. Furthermore, the existence of a positive correlation between athletics subsidies and educational spending and the fact that core revenues were controlled for in the models suggest the possibility that institutions have redirected funds from other areas to support education and athletics.

Although Operational Research (OR) has successfully provided many methodologies to address complex decision problems, in particular based on the rationality principle, there has been too little discussion regarding their limited consideration in IT evaluation practice and associated decision making satisfaction levels in an organisational context. The aim of this paper is to address these issues through providing a current account of diffusion and infusion of OR methodologies in IT decision making practice, and by analysing factors affecting decision making satisfaction from a Technological, Organisational, and Environmental (TOE) framework in the context of IT induced business transformations. We developed a structural equation model and conducted an empirical survey, which supported four out of five developed research hypotheses. Our results show that while Decision Support Systems (DSS), holistic IT evaluation methods, and management support seem to positively affect individual satisfaction, legislative regulation has an adverse effect. Results also revealed a persistent methodology diffusion and infusion gap. The paper discusses implications in each of these aspects and presents opportunities for future work. (authors' abstract)

No description available.

Although research is unequivocal concerning the important role of parenting in the prediction of a range of youth psychosocial outcomes, few empirical studies have examined potential contributions of parental individual differences factors to variability in parenting behaviors. Among the few studies that have, individual differences in affective dimensions of temperament (i.e., Negative Temperament [NT] and Positive Temperament [PT]) and executive functioning (EF) have individually emerged as potential key processes underlying parenting behaviors; however, they have yet to be examined jointly. Thus, using a latent variable approach, within a racially and ethnically diverse community sample of 166 parents, the current study examined the joint and interactive contribution of temperament and EF in the explanation of parenting. Further, despite conceptual overlap, parenting research has historically employed two distinct conceptual approaches: parenting practices and styles. The current study thus fitted a single integrative three-factor model (i.e., positive parenting, negative parenting, and corporal punishment) of parenting behaviors that included both styles and practices. Results suggested that parenting behaviors can be conceptualized within a single, three-factor model, allowing for the incorporation of historically distinct conceptions of parenting. Further, results revealed that affective dimensions of temperament and EF were uniquely but differentially associated with all parenting domains and EF moderated the associations between both NT and PT and positive parenting. All told, the current study provides support for an integrative model of parenting behaviors and parental temperament and EF, and their interaction, as potential critical processes associated with individual variability across parenting behaviors.

In the present study, parameter estimates, standard errors and chi-square statistics were compared using normal and elliptical estimation methods given three research conditions: population data contamination (10%, 20%, and 30%), sample size (100, 400, and 1000), and kurtosis (kappa =1,10, 20).

Previous literature provides an overview of the multiple relationships between alcohol use, protective behavioral strategies (PBS), alcohol-related negative consequences, depression, and sleep problems among college students, as well as differences by individual level characteristics, such as age, gender, and race/ethnicity. Several studies have found that specific demographic groups of students are more likely to reach a higher blood alcohol content (BAC) when “partying” or socializing (Turner, Bauerle, & Shu, 2004; Crotty, 2011). A variety of studies have also confirmed the positive relationship between high blood alcohol content and experiencing alcohol-related negative consequences (Turner, et al., 2004; Martens, Taylor, Damann, Page, Mowry, & Cimini, 2004; Borden, Martens, McBride, Sheline, Bloch, & Dude, 2011; Crotty, 2011). Additional studies have explored the role that protective behaviors play in the alcohol consumption-negative consequences relationship (Martens et al., 2004; Borden et al., 2011; Haines, Barker, & Rice, 2006; Martens, Martin, Littlefield, Murphy, & Cimini, 2011). These studies conclude that the frequency of protective behavior use and the number of these behaviors that are used when consuming alcohol are associated with the likelihood of a student experiencing negative consequences. Specifically, the negative relationship between protective behavior use and likelihood of experiencing negative consequences as a result of binge drinking is stronger for students who rarely use protective behaviors (Martens et al., 2004). Recent studies have also explored the role that depressive symptoms play in a model with alcohol use and alcohol-related negative consequences. The prevalence of college students who were diagnosed with depression in the last school year presents a great need to study its relationship with these constructs. Students with poor mental health or depression are also more likely to experience alcohol-related negative consequences (Weitzman, 2004), and there is a direct association between depressive symptoms and negative consequences, but not necessarily between alcohol use and depressive symptoms (Vickers, Patten, Bronars, Lane, Stevens, Croghan, Schroeder, & Clark, 2004). One study also suggests that protective behaviors partially mediate the relationship between depressive symptoms and negative consequences (Martens, Martin, Hatchett, Fowler, Fleming, Karakashian, & Cimini, 2008). Further, students with depressive symptoms who use protective behaviors drink less and experience fewer negative consequences, as compared to students without depressive symptoms who use protective behaviors (LaBrie, Kenney, Lac, Garcia, & Ferraiolo, 2009). Sleeping problems play an important role in the relationship between alcohol consumption and alcohol-related negative consequences. Poorer global sleep quality is associated with alcohol-related negative consequences after controlling for alcohol use. Further, among heavier drinkers, those with poorer sleep quality experienced greater levels of negative consequences than those who had better sleep quality (Kenney, LaBrie, Hummer, & Pham, 2012). The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between alcohol use measured by estimated Blood Alcohol Content (eBAC), PBS, depression, and sleep problems, as they explain the variance of alcohol-related negative consequences using the spring 2009 national aggregate data set of the American College Health Association National College Health Assessment (ACHA-NCHA). This dataset was comprised of a random sample of undergraduate and graduate students from 117 U.S. colleges and universities (n=53,850). Reliability analyses, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modeling (SEM) were used for model specification and evaluation. Model fit indices for the current study indicate that the model and the data in this study are a good fit, demonstrated by RMSEA= .044, 90% CI (.044, .044) and SRMR= .066. Findings suggest that an additive effect of eBAC, PBS, depression, sleep problems, and certain demographics explain 39% of the variance in alcohol-related negative consequences and greatly impact the amount of harm that college students may experience as a result of their alcohol use. Results from the current study may assist clinicians and health educators who want to improve the probability that they will be able help reduce negative consequences among college students when they drink alcohol. These staff may engage students in a conversation about risk reduction (e.g. one on one consults, campus-wide media campaign) and also provide support for conducting brief screenings about alcohol so that clinicians may be more effective in helping students to reduce alcohol-related negative consequences. The results from this study may also assist researchers in finding more relationships that account for some of the unexplained variance in this study. Interpreting these predictive relationships are important to the way that students are screened for alcohol problems on college campuses, as well as decisions that college students make about alcohol in the greater context of healthy lifestyle decisions. Future research could include repeating the analysis with each race/ethnicity separated out instead of as a dichotomous variable (white/non-white), conducting a similar analysis with each negative consequence instead of as a scale, developing a more complete sleep problems scale within the ACHA-NCHA with improved reliability, and a further investigation into the positive correlation between sleep problems and depression in order to explore other variables that mediate the relationship between depression and sleep problems among college students.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) has a severe impact on quality of life (QOL). Using the Health Promotion Model as a guide, a cross-sectional, correlational design was used to describe relationships among individual characteristics and experiences (age, gender, race, severity of illness, resilience), behavior-specific cognitions and affect (self-efficacy, barriers, social support), behavioral outcomes (health promoting lifestyle), and QOL in this patient population. One hundred and twenty participants were recruited from three clinics at Virginia Commonwealth University Health System. In addition to a demographic survey, participants completed a 151-item questionnaire incorporating measures resilience, severity of illness, self-efficacy, and barriers to a health-promoting lifestyle, social support, lifestyle, and QOL. Spirometric evaluation of lung function and the 6-minute walking test were also completed. Structural equation modeling was used to determine the effect of nine independent variables on QOL.Participants were white (51.2%), female (63.6%), and approximately 60.5 years old. Severity of illness, characterized by symptoms and functional capacity, suggested they were not severely ill (mean = 3.18, S.D.= 2.69). They were somewhat resilient (mean = 136.01, S.D.= 23.01), had adequate social support (mean = 68.10, S.D.= 19.95), were uncertain about their competency (self-efficacy) to manage their health (mean = 24.91, S.D.= 4.92), sometimes experienced barriers (mean = 33.33, S.D.= 9.02), and sometimes included attributes of a healthy lifestyle in their lives (mean = 123.93, S.D.= 25.22). Their QOL was fair to poor (mean = 6.10, S.D.= 2.39).A series of analyses using structural equation modeling was conducted. The first model that was tested did not fit the data χ2(df = 13)= 67.989,p = 0.000, GFI = 0.895, CFI = 0.781, RMSEA = 0.189). Next, modification indices were use to reexamine for fit. Using the recommended modifications, a good fit model was obtained χ2(df = 9)=5.016, p = 0.833, GFI = 0.992, CFI = 1.0, RMSEA = 0.0); however, non-significant paths were present. An alternative model was tested and fit the data very well χ2(df=18)= 10.011, p = 0.932, GFI = 0.981, CFI = 1.0, RMSEA = 0.0). The independent variables explained about 45.1% of the variance in health-promoting lifestyle. All the variables explained 45.3% of variance in QOL. The most significant predictor of a healthy lifestyle was social support (0.383) and the most significant predictor of QOL was self-efficacy (0.364). The findings confirmed the utility of the HPM.

Event history analysis is the most prevalent modeling technique used to model event occurrence with longitudinal data (Cox & Oakes, 1984; Menard, 1991; Singer & Willett, 1993, 2003). An alternative is to model longitudinal data within the SEM framework, known as latent variable growth modeling (McArdle, 1988; Meredith & Tisak, 1990), which can provide a more robust framework. Whether or not a student remains in college presents an appropriate context within which to examine the modeling of event occurrence with longitudinal data. The purpose of the study was to compare event history and latent growth modeling as for predicting change in college student perseverance, with college student persistence literature serving as the framework. Students are defined as having persevered if they have earned hours and the end of the semester rather than if they are enrolled at the beginning of the semester, which is the traditional definition of persistence.The population for the study was the 2001 and 2002 cohorts of first-time, full-time freshmen at a large mid-Atlantic urban research university. Stopouts and transfer students were excluded. Data was analyzed for the first five semesters for each cohort. The results showed that parameter estimates were quite consistent across model type and time frame and were mostly consistent with previous research. No one method outperformed the others in terms of predicting correct classification. Using event history analysis with the structural equation modeling framework, however, appeared to be a very promising alternative to event history analysis with logistic regression since one can model error term and examine the differential effects of predictors at each time period. Finally, while latent growth modeling did not outperform the other methods in predictive classification, the study demonstrated it can be used for event occurrence analysis to test more complex theories.