The aim of this research is to explore a need for improving marketing in the small business sector among restaurants. Furthermore, if a potential need was found, starting to dissect how to increase the demand for the need of marketing expertise services through crafting an attractive customer value proposition (CVP). By understanding this, it would allow marketing expertise to have a clearer idea regarding how to attract smaller businesses and increase demand for the needed services. In this way, a new type of market opens up for various types of marketing expertise. The study focuses on finding the smaller restaurants' pains and gains which are needed components of an attractive CVP. The study will also build upon the current knowledge and theory regarding the creation of a VP for smaller businesses, although focused on the restaurant industry. This is done by conducting four separate cases with the help of semi-structured interviews and documentary research. Briefly presented, the results show that the pains and gains which need to be considered for marketing expertise to craft a CVP geared towards attracting small restaurants are; allowing for better positioning which decreases the amount of unsatisfied customers, increasing the restaurants profitability and making them stand out in comparison to their competitors.

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Due to immigration the non-Hispanic White population continues to decrease and the population continues to change in regard to the ethnic and racial make-up. As these demographic changes take place higher education institutions will face increasing pressure from stakeholders to create environments that facilitate degree completion among mounting numbers of populations who are at risk in terms of academic success. First generation status denotes one group of students who are at risk in terms of persistence towards a bachelor's degree. The purpose of this study was to examine what factors predict the academic success of first year, full-time first generation students. Furthermore, this study examined whether there is a relationship between race, gender, financial need, and language ability and factors used to predict the academic success of first generation students. Factors were defined as variables measured by the 2002 Your First College Year Survey (YFCY) data (HERI, 2004a). Factors fell into five main areas: Student Background Characteristics, Agents of Socialization, Structural Characteristics, Institutional Environment, and Student Effort (Pascarella & Terenzini, 1991). The study was based on secondary analysis of the 2002 YFCY data provided by the Higher Education Research Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles. A combination of descriptive statistics, factor analysis, and logistic regression was used for this study. Findings revealed there are significant differences between academically more successful FGs and FGs who are academically less successful in relation to three factors: Institutional Environment, Student Effort, and Agents of Socialization. FGs are more likely to experience academic success in regard to variables associated with the factor Institutional Environment. There is a greater likelihood FGs will be academically less successful in relation to variables associated with the factors Student Effort and Agents of Socialization. When considering demographic variables in relation to the three significant institutional factors, FGs who are Asian American are more likely to experience academic success. Alternatively, FGs have greater odds of being academically less successful if they are male, African American, Mexican American, and non-native speakers of English. / Ph. D.

This dissertation presents a quantitative study of the effects of multiple aspects of working conditions on teacher effectiveness as measured by value-added scores and student perceptions of teaching. The data were derived from the 2009-2010 Teacher Working Condition Survey and Student Perception Survey in Measures of Effective Teaching (MET) Project. Using the structural equation modeling and other related methods, several models of teacher effectiveness were estimated. The results supported that instruction and classroom related working conditions at school played important role in effective teaching and student achievement gains in English language arts and mathematics. It was found that, after controlling for teachers' education degree and experience, instructional practice support had significant effect on teachers' value-added scores. Moreover, Classroom autonomy and support for student conduct management were found to have indirect effect on teacher value-added score mediated through the students' perceptions of teaching. In addition, student perceptions of teaching was found to be significantly worse in high-need schools than schools serving fewer minority students or students from low-incoming families, but teacher value-added score was not significantly different between the high versus low needs schools. The findings of the study significantly contributed to a better understanding of the effects of working environment and how these are related to teacher performance. The study has both theoretical and practical significance; it provided critical evidence that can be used by policy makers to promote teachers' performance, especially in high-needs schools. / Ph. D.

This study examined the differences in individual self-esteem, collective self-esteem and the need to belong between group members and non-group members of Greek organizations, religious groups and ethnic/cultural organizations. Participants were freshman and sophomore students from a large southeastern university. Participants were given Rosenberg's (1965) self-esteem scale, Lutanen and Cracker's (1992) collective self-esteem scale and the Need to Belong scale by Leary et al., (2005), as well as asked about their various group affiliations. It was found that participants who reported belonging to a Greek organization scored significantly higher on the Need to Belong scale than their counterparts. Also, participants who reported a religious affiliation scored significantly higher on the public collective self-esteem subscale than those who reported no religious affiliation. Participants who reported belonging to an ethnic/cultural organization showed similar scores on the three scales to those who did not report such an affiliation. Further research should expand this study to an older more mature population because there are likely to be differences on these scales for those who report a religious affiliation and those who do not.

This thesis argues for providing spiritual care in primary care for Massachusetts persons with disabilities having Medicare and Medicaid as their primary insurers. It outlines an advocacy strategy to (1) increase awareness of the importance of spiritual care as key to primary care, (2) get buy-in for spiritual care as an optional primary care service to Medicaid beneficiaries needing nonmedical supports and services to live in the community due to mental health diagnosis or physical disability, and (3) put forward a statutory or regulatory proposal requiring One Care plans to provide certified peer chaplains as a covered service starting 2023.

[pt] A presente dissertação aborda o Design em Parceria realizado pelo Laboratório de Investigação em Living Design - LILD/PUC- Rio sob a ótica do Design e Emoção, e tem como foco os sentimentos envolvidos na relação das pessoas com os objetos que as cercam e o entorno construído. A autora contrapõe o Design em Parceria - que se caracteriza pelo envolvimento ativo do usuário em praticamente todas as etapas do processo projetual - à idéia de que o design resulte do trabalho de um gênio solitário, que não precisa conhecer a realidade e as demandas dos usuários para quem projeta. A dissertação apresenta o pensamento de pesquisadores que apontam para a importância de o usuário ser parceiro do designer ao longo do desenvolvimento de produtos, e, também, para o papel social e ético do design. É promovido um encontro teórico entre os autores e o Professor José Luiz Mendes Ripper, coordenador do LILD, para quem o designer deve preparar o mundo para todos. Este encontro se dá em torno de aspectos da prática do Design em Parceria observados durante o trabalho de campo junto ao LILD, por meio da observação participante. Após apresentar exemplos de projetos desenvolvidos pelo LILD em parceria com usuários, a autora traz algumas reflexões e identifica o importante sentimento de co-autoria presente na prática do Design em Parceria. / [en] The present dissertation deals with Participatory Design carried out by the Investigation Laboratory in Living Design - LILD/ PUC-Rio under the Design and Emotion view-point, in which the focus is the feelings people have about the objects that surround them and the built environment. The author contrasts Participatory Design - characterized by the user´s active involvement in almost all stages of the planning process - against the idea that the design should be a result of the work of a solitary genius, who does not need to know the user´s reality and desires. The dissertation presents some researchers´ thoughts that assert that the user has to be the designers´s partner throughout the entire product design process and that the design has to play a social and ethical role. The dissertation promotes the theoretical meeting between the authors and Professor José Luiz Mendes Ripper, LILD coordinator, to whom the designer has to prepare the world to all. This meeting occurs around aspects of Participatory Design practice observed throughout the LILD work field, under the author participant observation. After presenting examples of objects developed by LILD in partnership with users, the author brings out some reflections and identifies the important feeling of coauthorship present in the practice of Participatory Design.

Att vara en ung fotbollsspelare på hög nivå innebär både spännande utvecklingsmöjligheteroch höga krav, vilket kan leda till betydande stress om man som spelare inte känner att mankan möta dessa förväntningar. Föreliggande studie undersöker sambandet mellan unga elitfotbollsspelares upplevelser av stress och upplevelse av deras tränares grad av behovsfrämjande och behovshämmande. Till studien rekryterades 112 pojkar och 7 flickor iåldern 16 - 19 år som spelar fotboll i de två högsta ungdomsserierna i Sverige och Finland.Studiens frågeställningar besvarades med hjälp av självskattningsformulären InterpersonalBehaviour Questionnaire-Sport (IBQ-S) och Perceived Stress Reactivity Scale for Adolescent Athletes (PSRS-AA). Sambandsanalyser visar på signifikanta negativa samband mellan behovsfrämjande ledarskap och stress, signifikanta positiva samband mellan behovshämmande och stress, samt signifikanta lägre grad av upplevd stress bland spelare som upplever att de i hög grad får sina grundläggande psykologiska behov av autonomi, kompetens och samhörighet tillfredsställda, i jämförelse med spelare som upplever en låg grad av behovstillfredsställelse. / Being a young football player at a high-level means both exciting development opportunitiesand high demands, which can lead to significant stress if you as a player do not feel that youcan meet these expectations. The present study investigates the relationship between young elite football players’ experiences of stress and their coach’s perception of the degree of need promotion and need-inhibition. 112 boys and 7 girls aged 16-19 who play football in the two highest youth leagues in Sweden and Finland were recruited for the study. The study’s questions were answered using the self-report forms Interpersonal Behaviour Questioinnaire-Sport (IBQ-S) and Perceived Stress Reactivity Scale for Adolescent Athletes (PSRSS-A). Correlation analyzes show significant negative relationships between need-promoting leadership and stress, significant positive relationships between need-inhibiting leadership andstress, as well as significantly lower levels of perceived stress among players who feel that they have their basic psychological need for autonomy, competence and relatedness satisfied, incomparison with players who experience a low degree of need satisfaction.

Personality traits often drive media selectivity, as individuals seek out specific types of media and media genres for gratification. To further understand selectivity in a modern context, this study examined the personality factors of need for cognition, self-esteem, and empathy in relation to engagement with social media, literature, music, podcasts, video games, and tabletop games, with their associated genres. Analyses of 328 participants revealed that personality traits provided minimal to mild influence in media and genre selection, suggesting that the mechanisms behind media selection are comprised of other psychological and sociological factors.

Thesis advisor: Rebekah L. Coley / Inequitable distribution of school funds may underlie persistent achievement disparities across class and race in the U.S. Significant reforms in school finance have closed funding disparities between school districts, but inequitable practices within districts, in which funds fail to reach the students in greatest need, may be undermining progress. Unavailability of school-level funding data previously limited assessments of intra-district allocations of funding.The primary aim of this study was to assess intra-district finance equity–exploring funding distribution patterns across multiple dimensions of student need and race–using recently released national school-level expenditures data. Multilevel analyses decomposed variation in total per pupil expenditures within and between districts while adjusting for state differences, and jointly assessed intra- and inter-district finance equity by exploring how school shares of students across poverty status, limited English proficiency, special education identification, and race were associated with per pupil expenditures. Analyses also investigated whether intra-district distribution patterns varied across district-level economic and racial strata. Results revealed significant variation in per pupil expenditures across schools within districts, and found that on average, intra-district funding distributions were progressive toward higher poverty schools as well as schools with more special education students, but not toward schools with more English language learners. School proportions of underrepresented minority students were not associated with differences in per pupil expenditures. Intra-district funding distribution patterns both reflected and counteracted inter-district patterns, depending on the dimension of student need. Exploring variations in intra-district patterns across district characteristics, analyses found that higher district poverty and economic segregation were associated with lower levels of progressivity in intra-district distributions, though not along all dimensions of need. Higher concentrations of underrepresented minority students and racial segregation in districts were not associated with intra-district distribution patterns for race, but were associated with intra-district progressivity across other dimensions of need. Study findings call for a comprehensive approach to assessing and advancing school finance equity, in order to ensure equal opportunity for all students. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2023. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Counseling, Developmental and Educational Psychology.