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A motivated workforce is crucial for the success of an organization. Increasing employee performance is a key ingredient to a successful organization. Effective leaders should therefore be able to motivate their subordinates. How can leaders use vision, empowerment, culture, and ethics to increase employee performance main subject of this thesis. “Vision represents a leader's idealized goal that is shared with followers” (Johnson 2009). Strong visions are inspiring, and associated with higher organizational performance. Transformational leadership articulate an appealing vision of the future, challenge followers with high standards, and provide encouragement and meaning for their work (Johnson 2009). Empowerment is an important element that leaders can utilize to increase employee performance in organizations. Empowerment refers to individuals’ self-motivating mechanisms and consists of meaning, competency, self-determination, and impact (Spreitzer, 1995). Employees who are empowered reported high job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and decreased turnover rates (Sparrowe, 1994; Koberg et al., 1999). Ethical leaders are leaders with right values and strong character that set examples for others and withstand temptations (Freeman & Steward 2006). Ethical leadership behavior has been found promote employee attitudes and behaviors and increase task significance, resulting in improved employee performance (Piccolo et al., 2010). “Organizational culture is defined as patterns of shared values and beliefs over time which produces behavioral norms that are adopted in solving problems” (Owens 1987; Schein, 1990). A strong organizational culture inspires, motivate, and enable employees to perform at a high level and work towards a common objective.

Load testing remains the most integral part of testing and measuring the performance of Large Scale Software Systems (LSS). During the course of a load test, a system under test is closely monitored, resulting in an extremely large amount of logging data, e.g., Performance counters logs. The performance counter log captures run-time system properties such as CPU utilization, disk I/O, queues, and network traffic. Such information is of vital interest to performance analysts. The information helps them to observe the system’s behavior under load by comparing it against the documented behavior of a system or with expected behavior. In practice, for LSS, it is impossible for an analyst to skim through the large amount of performance counters to find the required information. Instead, analysts often use ‘rules of thumb’. In a LSS, there is no single person with complete system knowledge. In this thesis, we present methodologies to help performance analysts to 1) more effectively compare load tests to detect performance deviations, which may, lead to Service Level Agreement (SLA) violations and 2) provide them with a smaller and manageable set of important performance counters to assist in the root cause analysis of the detected deviations. We demonstrate our methodologies through case studies based on load test data obtained from both a large scale industrial system and an open source benchmark system. Our proposed methodologies can provide up to 89% reduction in the set of performance counters while detecting performance deviations with few false positives (i.e., 95% average precision). / Thesis (Ph.D, Computing) -- Queen's University, 2013-08-28 23:04:58.774

Recent research efforts have attempted to determine the effectiveness of the combination of a pharmacological cardiac stimulant (theophylline) and pulmonary vasodilator (ambrisentan) in attenuating performance losses and mountain sickness at altitude. This combination has been observed to improve hypoxic exercise performance in rats, but never tested in human subjects. In the current study, 30 male participants were tested in a paired fashion to assess whether this drug combination would improve exercise performance and/or decrease symptoms of AMS. The experimental group (EXP, n = 15) received a treatment of 400 mg theophylline and 5 mg ambrisentan, while the placebo group (PLA, n = 15) received a placebo combination. Data collection was performed in the field at an altitude of 4,267 m. Participants completed two 2-mile time trials (TT) on subsequent days, between which they spent the night at 3,048 m. Treatment with theophylline and ambrisentan was not associated with improved 2-mile TT performances or AMS symptoms. The EXP group had significantly lower measures of diastolic blood pressure and mean arterial pressure compared to PLA while at altitude (69.2 ± 7.9 vs 77.7 ± 8.0 mmHg and 90.8 ± 8.9 vs 97.2 ± 7.9 mmHg, respectively), main effect for group, p<0.05. Significantly, this study was the first to assess this drug combination in human subjects at altitude in a field setting. Additionally, the observed reduction in vascular pressures as a result of treatment may have positive implications for the health state of sojourners to altitude.

The purpose of this study was to explore the lived experiences of women in Montana who chose to attempt relactation. A phenomenological approach was utilized to understand the lived experiences of the 10 participants. In depth interviews were conducted and a 21 item, categorical and open-ended survey was administered seeking demographic and experiential data. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was used to organize and analyze the data. Most participants reported having good support from family, friends, lactation specialists, and/or physicians. Despite this support, the participants experienced breastfeeding difficulty. An overarching theme was having a difficult baby; whether it was colic, latching difficulties, or a lack of bond with the baby. Most of the participants were surprised they experienced such difficulty and stated their experience contradicted their previous expectations of breastfeeding. It was common for the participants to state it was assumed breastfeeding would be easy since it was a natural bodily function. Feelings of rejection, anger, stress, and failure were commonly expressed when participants reflected on their first attempt at breastfeeding. The participants who felt they relactated successfully stated the process was a defining moment in their lives, it gave them a second chance at breastfeeding, and many felt like they were able to overcome those negative feelings associated with breastfeeding difficulty. Future studies could examine the experience of breastfeeding a difficult baby, and what factors are present with women who continue or discontinue nursing difficult babies.

IMPLICATIONS OF DISCONTINUOUS EXERCISE ON THE MAINTENANCE OF THERMOREGULATION IN THE HEAT T.J. Hampton, F. von Sydow, J.S. Cuddy, B.C. Ruby, FACSM, and C.L. Dumke, FACSM. University of Montana, Missoula, MT Increases in physiological strain index (PSI) can be a barrier to endurance performance. The efficacy of discontinuous work on the attenuation of rises in PSI during exercise in the heat remains unclear. PURPOSE: To evaluate discontinuous exercise on the maintenance of thermoregulation in the heat. METHODS: Eight recreationally active men (age 28.5±5.5 yr, body mass 75.3±11.5 kg, VO2peak 56.3 ±6.3 ml*kg-1*min-1) performed 2 trials of 60 minutes each (discontinuous (DCON) run/walk and continuous (CONT) running) matched for overall work. Five of these subjects performed the trials outdoors (OUT) on a 400m gravel track at 30.9 ±3.1 °C and humidity of 25.5±5.5% RH. The speeds for the trials were 187.8 and 203.8 m/min for CONT and DCON, respectively. During the DCON trial, participants ran for 8.5 minutes then walked at 1 minute (80.5 m/min). Subsequently, three men acclimated to a climate chamber (IN) for 15 minutes and then performed DCON and CONT incremental trials on a treadmill at 34°C and 40% humidity. The trials were similar to the OUT conditions, where work was matched over the course of 1 hr, but with 3 different intensities increasing every 20 minutes. This was followed by a time trial (TT) which included an incremental increase in treadmill grade at 187.8 m/min until failure. RESULTS: The OUT group exhibited a significant effect of trial in DCON and CON for Tsk (36.75±1.3 vs 34.2±0.6 ˚C; P=0.002) and a trend towards significance in HR (152±14 vs 132±30 bpm; P=0.095) and PSI (6.1±2.1 vs 5.2±3.1, P=0.062). The IN group showed an effect of time for HR (141±21 vs 150±30 bpm for DCON and CON, respectively; P=0.016). There was no significant difference in TT performance (P=0.15) between trials. CONCLUSION: These findings imply that when total work is held constant DCON has a significant impact on HR and Tsk but not on Tc or PSI during exercise in the heat and that the Dcon trial did not result in elevated PSI despite working at a higher workload than the control trial.

EFFECT OF EXOGENOUS ICE SLURRY ON PHYSIOLOGICAL STRAIN INDEX DURING EXERCISE IN THE HEAT. F. von Sydow, T.J. Hampton, J.S. Cuddy, B.C. Ruby, FACSM, and C.L. Dumke, FACSM. The University of Montana, Missoula, MT Ice slurry solution (IS) ingested during exercise in the heat may alleviate physiological strain index (PSI) by lessening the rise of core temperature (Tc), and heart rate (HR.) PURPOSE: To investigate IS influence on PSI during submaximal running in the heat. METHODS: Six recreationally trained subjects (60+3 ml*kg-1*min-1) participated in two running trials on an outdoor track (30+1.5˚C, 25%RH). The two trials were run at the same absolute intensity (187.6 m*min-1), and given either an ambient carbohydrate drink (25˚C) or IS (-1˚C) in random order. Subsequently, three recreationally aerobic trained subjects (59+3 ml*kg-1* min-1) participated in two running trials inside a climate chamber (34˚C, 40%RH). Subjects acclimatized in the chamber for 15 minutes then ran for 1hr with increasing speed every 20 minutes followed by an incremental time trial (TT) test to exhaustion. RESULTS: Using 2x3 ANOVA, outside runners had a significantly lower PSI (5.4+1.6 vs. 7.1+1.3; P=0.01), however HR (P=0.63), Tc (P=0.56), Tsk (P=0.55), and sweat rate (P=0.06) did not reach significance (P>0.05). Chamber runners had a significantly increased TT performance when given IS compared to ambient drink (8.2+2.1 min vs 6.4+1.8 min; P=0.01). Although chamber runners did not achieve significantly lower PSI (P=0.35), HR (P=0.51), Tc (P=0.51), Tsk (P=0.43), sweat rate (P=0.21) or RPE (P=0.58) when given IS. Nevertheless, CONCLUSIONS: These findings indicate that IS may have a significant impact on PSI. The IS also significantly increased TT performance. These data show the potential for increased running performance when IS is given during moderate exercise in the heat.

The research focused on the identification and ranking of critical success factors that contribute most significantly towards the training of a cello student. The empirical study was based on a sample of cello teachers in four countries selected for the study, namely Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. A literature study, identifying a broad category of factors that could contribute towards successful cello training, formed the basis of the questionnaire. These critical success factors included the quality of the teacher, acquired skills, the talent and giftedness of the student, support rendered to the student, and the curriculum. Each of these factors comprised five sub factors. The respondents were required to rank these factors in order of importance. In the final analysis, they were requested to rank the five main factors. A statistical process of ranking (forced ranking) and Kruskal-Wallis was applied to rank and analyse the responses of the cello teachers in the survey. The critical success factors that contribute the most significantly towards successful cello training were identified and compared.