abstract: Object manipulation is a common sensorimotor task that humans perform to interact with the physical world. The first aim of this dissertation was to characterize and identify the role of feedback and feedforward mechanisms for force control in object manipulation by introducing a new feature based on force trajectories to quantify the interaction between feedback- and feedforward control. This feature was applied on two grasp contexts: grasping the object at either (1) predetermined or (2) self-selected grasp locations (“constrained” and “unconstrained”, respectively), where unconstrained grasping is thought to involve feedback-driven force corrections to a greater extent than constrained grasping. This proposition was confirmed by force feature analysis. The second aim of this dissertation was to quantify whether force control mechanisms differ between dominant and non-dominant hands. The force feature analysis demonstrated that manipulation by the dominant hand relies on feedforward control more than the non-dominant hand. The third aim was to quantify coordination mechanisms underlying physical interaction by dyads in object manipulation. The results revealed that only individuals with worse solo performance benefit from interpersonal coordination through physical couplings, whereas the better individuals do not. This work showed that naturally emerging leader-follower roles, whereby the leader in dyadic manipulation exhibits significant greater force changes than the follower. Furthermore, brain activity measured through electroencephalography (EEG) could discriminate leader and follower roles as indicated power modulation in the alpha frequency band over centro-parietal areas. Lastly, this dissertation suggested that the relation between force and motion (arm impedance) could be an important means for communicating intended movement direction between biological agents. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Biomedical Engineering 2017

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ABSTRACT THE EFFECTS OF HOSPITAL UNIT NURSE LEADERS’ PERCEIVED FOLLOWER SUPPORT ON NURSING STAFF PERFORMANCE OUTCOMES by JOY BAILEY Hospital unit nurse leaders are increasingly expected to deliver high quality patient outcomes at less cost yet very little is known about how they accomplish these goals while meeting work force demands and the needs of the organization. Whereas the literature is replete with studies about the work environment of nurses in general, very little has been published that examines the work environment of unit nurse leaders even though, by virtue of their role, they are inextricably linked to both staff performance and patient outcomes and ultimately the success of hospital organizations. The purpose of this study was to examine nursing support relationships (unit nurse leaders’ perceived follower support (PFS), nursing staff perception of leader supportive supervision (SS) and unit nurse leaders’ perceived organizational support), unit nurse leaders’ work stressors (role conflict, workload and span of control) and nursing staff outcomes of work team cohesion (WTC), job satisfaction, absenteeism and turnover intent on the acute care hospital nursing unit. Thirty-two unit nurse leaders from nine urban hospitals, along with 397 of the staff they supervised were surveyed. Seventy-seven percent (n = 305) of the nursing staff were registered nurses; the remaining 23% (n = 92) were nursing assistants and unit secretaries. The average nurse leader’s span of control was 41staff members (SD=43.5; range: 24-135). Most nurse leaders were affiliated with academic medical centers. Results showed that leaders with higher levels of PFS were more likely to display higher levels of SS of their staff and that higher levels of SS were associated with greater WTC, higher staff job satisfaction and increased staff intent to remain with the organization. Supportive supervision mediated the relationship between PFS and staff work team cohesion, job satisfaction and turnover intent. Also the negative effects of nurse leader role conflict on SS weakened with higher PFS. This preliminary study lays the ground work for more expansive studies on supportive interactions between unit nurse leaders and their staff, with potential to inform nurse administrators about the importance of the unit leader/staff relationship and its influence on nursing staff performance outcomes and ultimately patient outcomes.

This study was initiated for the purpose to further understand the theoretical relationship between followers trust of the closest bound perceived servant leader and the predictability of the  followers organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). Specifically, this study looked at the modifying effect of the followers prosocial motivation—the desire to benefit other people (Grant, 2008) on multilevel dimensions of trust (i.e. affect- and cognition-based trust) and how this could possibly predict if at all followers OCB. There is far less research specifically about servant leaders than those implementing transformational leadership theory (Joseph & Winston, 2005; van Dierendonck & Nuijten, 2011). There are numerous studies using transformational leadership based on the well-defined parameters that are proven to be a relatively strong predictive variable in a variety of theoretical fields (N. Eva, Sendjaya, & Prajogo, 2015). Zhu and Akhtars’ (2014) study on transformational leadership behavior and multi-levels of trust is the inspiration to the current research project. The current research project is a close replication of Zhu and Akhtars’ (2014) model with the replacement of transformational leadership with servant leadership. Data were collected from 39 followers and four leaders from seven different facilities in the greater Stockholm area. The results showed that affect-based trust mediated the relationship between servant-based leadership and followers OCB. In addition, affect-based trust mediated the relationship between servant leadership and followers OCB only with those with high prosocial motivation. As for cognition-based trust, there seems to be some interaction between cognition-based trust and the relationship between servant leadership and followers with low prosocial motivation. These results strengthen the conclusions of the original study by Zhu and Akhtar (2014). Finding that servant leadership does not predict follower’s organizational citizenship behaviors alone. To reach a better understanding on followers OCB and their interaction within a servant leadership organization one must look at the individual followers’ level of trust and prosocial motivation variables to further our understanding on how to encourage OCB.