Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2006, Labor and Human Resources

The strategic role of the compensation system has been increasingly important to business. However, there has been little knowledge or research about how the compensation system strategically impacts organizations (Gerhart, 2000; Heneman, Ledford, & Gresham, 2000). Therefore, research is needed to substantiate how to improve the effectiveness of the compensation strategy. In this study, a large-scale survey was conducted to examine the effect of compensation practices in a wide variety of organizations. A total of 130 firms responded to the survey; of these firms, six had multiple respondents. The empirical results revealed that long-term incentive, group-based pay, and merit-pay programs positively impact perceptual and financial performance. As well as identifying direct impact, this study examined the indirect impact of compensation programs and practices. In this process, OCB plays a mediating role in the effect of several compensation programs such as, merit pay, group-based pay, and long-term incentive on a firm's performance. The model developed in this study adds valuable insight to the existing strategic compensation literature by identifying the means through which the compensation strategy leads to a firm's success. The current study also makes a theoretical contribution. The use of several compensation programs may have the potential to improve “flexibility” by developing several characteristics of human resources, which in turn are integrated into a firm's success. This study supports the universal perspective by demonstrating positive effects of specific types of compensation programs across organizations and industries. Furthermore, unless human resource attributes achieve “fit” with the features of a compensation program, the strength in the relationship between the compensation program and a firm's performance becomes lower. The findings support the contingency perspective that compensation program characteristics must be consistent with human resou (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Science (MS), Ohio University, 2017, Experimental Psychology (Arts and Sciences)

When people perceive a lack of understanding or purpose, they typically seek to establish meaning. According to the Meaning Maintenance Model (MMM), when meaning is threatened people affirm indirect sources of meaning to relieve negative feelings rather than directly resolve the source of the violation. Still, research has not investigated the effectiveness of direct compensation for eliminating meaning threats, nor compared whether indirect compensation is as useful as directly emanating the meaning threat. In the present research, I investigate the effectiveness of direct meaning compensation (Study 1) and then compare it to indirect meaning compensation in-lab (Study 2) and online (Study 3). Across all three studies, I exposed participants to a magic trick, and then either told or did not tell them how the trick was done, and assessed participants' feelings of meaninglessness and behavioral meaning-making efforts. Results showed that participants who were not told how the trick done reported greater feelings of surprise and uncertainty than those directly compensated (i.e., told exactly how the trick was done; Study 1). Moreover, direct compensation was more (Study 2) or at least as (Study 3) effective at reducing the surprise and uncertainty associated with the meaning violation. Nevertheless, I observed no reliable differences in behavioral meaning-making efforts across the studies, suggesting either that the psychological 4 variables were more sensitive to the meaning threat or that the meaning threat had no effect on meaning-making efforts. Taken together, this research suggests that direct compensation for meaning threats is an effective way to reduce feelings of psychological uncertainty in a novel and unexplainable situation.

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2003, Educational Services and Research

Predicting the return to work for individuals who have become disabled has been an area under investigation for vocational rehabilitation for several years. For the workers' compensation programs, the infusion of vocational rehabilitation programs add a different and significant problem for industrially injured workers. The vocational rehabilitation programs under these agencies were created to work with a specialized group of individuals who have a greater opportunity to return to work because of their unique work experience. Workers' compensation industrial vocational rehabilitation face the same issues as does the state-federal vocational rehabilitation system, and that is how to determine allocation of funding for appropriate vocational rehabilitation services to increase successful outcomes. In conjunction with the issue of allocation is the predictability of a successful outcome. The Menninger Return to Work Scale (MRTWS) was created from a sample of long-term disability clients. Utilizing specific variables, a determination as to the likelihood of an individual returning to work or not returning to work, can be developed. In this study, an evaluation of the scale's practical application to the Ohio Workers' Compensation system was examined. The variables of age, disability, marital status, area of residence, gender, type of employer, length of time in rehabilitation program, attorney representation, wage replacement, were studied to determine their impact on the return to work. The Chi-square test and the t-Test were used to determine if differences exist between the return to work group and the non-return to work group. The return to work group and the non-return to work group were found to be not significantly different for each variable in the study. The scale created for Ohio Bureau of Worker's Compensation clients will provide some justification for the decisions made with regard to entering a client into a vocational rehabilitation program and in determ (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 2006, Graduate School

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 1923, Graduate School

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 1938, Graduate School

Master of Science in Engineering Mechanics, Cleveland State University, 2024, Washkewicz College of Engineering

This paper presents a computational finite element analysis (FEA) focused on the utilization of shape memory alloy (SMA) interfaces as thermal expansion compensators for ductile positive coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) materials such as Aluminum 6061-T6. The investigation delves into the efficacy of superelastic, one-way, and two-way shape memory effects in mitigating thermal expansion-induced stresses within engineering structures utilizing beam components. The research examines critical structural factors in a fixed beam system such as thermally induced internal stresses and buckling resilience at varying thermal loads. Computational simulation software from ANSYS Mechanical was calibrated to fit previous data from the literature on commercially available NiTi-based SMA properties. Comparing noninterface and SMA-interfaced beam structures, this study demonstrates the potential of SMAs to mitigate thermally induced stresses, thereby enhancing the structural integrity and longevity of engineering structures in thermal gradient environments. Furthermore, this paper proposes potential industries where the implementation of SMA interfaces could prove advantageous over current thermal compensating practices, including aerospace, optical, and civil engineering. This paper also introduces employing two-way shape memory alloys (TWSMAs) in thermal compensation by using computational and numerical analysis to showcase that TWSMAs response can be trained to perform similarly to materials with a negative thermal coefficient. By leveraging the unique property of trained TSMAs of the bidirectional shape memory effect, the aim was to demonstrate a second stress-free thermal state at an elevated temperature to increase the structure's buckling resilience. This research underscores the practical feasibility and performance of SMA interfaces as thermal expansion compensators, setting the stage for further exploration of advanced SMA technologies.

MA, University of Cincinnati, 2024, Arts and Sciences: Psychology

We must align our behaviors with others to achieve our shared goals. Understanding the factors that promote stable and accurate performance during joint actions has important theoretical and practical implications. Though quantifying the relevant predictors of joint performance remains an ongoing challenge, one way to address this issue is to view joint action as synergy that links various elements to covary to stabilize task performance. Reciprocal compensation of synergy is the critical mechanism that not only facilitates load sharing but also compensates for variations among elements to preserve performance stability. The Uncontrolled Manifold (UCM) approach is used to quantify synergy by separating the motor variance within the UCM subspace as "good variance" (VUCM) and orthogonal to the UCM subspace as "bad variance" (VORT). While the amount of compensation (VUCM) is a key component of the synergy index, there is some ambiguity about the amount of compensation and performance. Temporal structure of VUCM has been shown to provide additional insight into intrapersonal coordination, however, its role in predicting performance at the interpersonal coordination remains unexplored. Thirty dyads participated, performing a force stabilization task using pinch gauge dynamometers and compression load cells. Participants produced a fixed total force for 30-second trials under low-force and high-force conditions (10% and 30% MVC). Finger-force data were displayed in real-time on a monitor, with force deviations recorded across 10 randomized trials per dyad. The standard UCM approach was used to quantify the degree of synergy between the dyads performing steady-state isometric force stabilization task. The amount of compensation (VUCM), calculated from the UCM method, was extended to sample entropy (SampEnUCM) to analyze the regularity of the compensation. RMS error values (deviations of total force from target performance) were submitted to a mixed effects model with V (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Education , University of Dayton, 2023, Educational Administration

The study examined the high turnover rate of academic advisors at The University and focused on potential growth areas and strategies to slow down employee turnover. The study focused on conducting qualitative research around areas that may cause academic advisers to leave the field, such as pay, connection to work, relatable professional development, job satisfaction, and career mobility, to see if those play significant factors in turnover. Findings show that these factors are a major cause of employee turnover. I have generated a professional development opportunity that promotes career progression in my action research. As an English academic advisor at The University, my action plan consists of engaging the academic advisors in being a part of their professional development that can help build their resume for potential career growth or growth in their current role. Academic advisors will have the opportunity to measure their levels of transferable skills with a list generated by the research and a focus group. Academic advisors will build their learning plan on the transferable skills they must include. I hope academic advisors take pride and accountability in building their professional development plan to further their career development. Overall, this action plan is designed to bridge the gap between qualified employees and meaningful professional development, promote connection with the university, and provide an opportunity for the administration to communicate with academic advisors.

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2023, Business: Business Administration

This dissertation package examines the effect of executive compensation and corporate governance related regulatory provisions on firm value and risk-taking decisions of industrial firms, using the provisions from the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (DF) as an exogenous shock. In the first paper, I examine the impact of Section 972 of DF on market performance and investment decisions of duality firms. I predict that the disclosure requirements under Section 972, which requires duality firms to explain why the CEO also serves as the chairperson of the board, will mitigate the agency problem associated with duality firms. Results from the paper support this prediction, suggesting the disclosure shock from Section 972 improved the governance of duality firms with beneficial effects for corporate decision-making, leading to improved firm performance and a decrease in investments with a negative NPV. In the second paper, I predict that DF's passage will be followed by a decrease in the level and efficacy of risk-taking incentives (vega) without a corresponding decrease in risk-taking as measured by R&D spending. Provisions from Title IX of DF can discourage firms from providing executives incentives to take greater risks by adding scrutiny to the compensation process overall ("say-on-pay") and severance packages ("golden parachutes"), strengthening the independence of the compensation committee, requiring disclosure of the "pay ratio," and restricting managerial hedging activities. I predict these provisions will not necessarily decrease R&D spending by these firms because these provisions can also mitigate managerial agency problems by making it harder for executives to engage in rent-seeking through compensation. Results provide support for these predictions, as the level of R&D investments do not decrease despite the decrease in the level and efficacy of vega. Overall, my dissertation contributes to the literature on executive compensation, c (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, 2023, Accounting

Earnings management has been a threat to the financial health of corporations and the financial market as a whole. It continues to be a significant concern for stakeholders such as investors, creditors, regulators, and accounting researchers. Many researchers attribute earnings management to the level and design of managerial compensation. This dissertation adds to the literature by studying how the level of managers' compensation relative to their peers affects their financial reporting decisions. The current study investigates whether horizontal pay disparity and the availability of pay disparity justification influence managers' likelihood to engage in earnings management. The study also investigates whether managers' equity sensitivity affects their tendency to manage earnings and whether it moderates the relationship between horizontal pay disparity and earnings management. This study uses an experimental research method and manipulates two independent variables between participants: (1) high horizontal pay disparity or no horizontal pay disparity; and (2) justified or unjustified pay disparity. The third independent variable, equity sensitivity, is measured through some post-experimental questions. The study recruited participants with managerial and accounting experience through Prolific crowdsourcing platform. The findings show a significant positive effect of horizontal pay disparity on managers' likelihood to engage in earnings management. The results demonstrate that the two groups of equity sensitivity (high and low) show different reactions to horizontal pay disparity. The high equity sensitivity group shows an increased likelihood of managing earnings only when the pay disparity is not justified. In contrast, the low equity sensitivity group shows an increased tendency to engage in earnings management, whether or not the pay disparity is justified. Further, managers' equity sensitivity has a significant negative effect on the likelihood of earnings man (open full item for complete abstract)

Bachelor of Science of Journalism (BSJ), Ohio University, 2023, Journalism

Streaming Killed The Radio Star: Economic and Consumer Behavior Trends in the Age of Music Streaming is a three-episode podcast that seeks to understand the current economic landscape of the music industry and consider the implications of such a landscape. Over the course of 13 interviews, we seek to understand consumer thoughts, behaviors, and opinions on topics of music streaming, artist compensation, cancel culture, and ethical consumption. Accompanying the podcast series is an academic paper explaining the theory and process of its creation.

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2023, German

Reparations and victim reconciliation have become a popular topic in the 21st century. In the fight for apologies, compensation, and corrections for human injustices, civil society actors play a necessary role in varied facets. Through qualitative research and case study comparison, I seek to investigate the questions: How did civil society organizations fight for successful reparations from the German government? Which factors lead to a successful or satisfactory outcome, and which to failure? By using Germany as the common perpetrator and respondent among the reparations claims, the study contrasts the experience and success of civil societies in their push for financial indemnifications and reconciliation. My focus is on the Jews following the Holocaust, the Ovaherero and Nama peoples for the Namibian Genocide, and the Roma and Sinti after the Porajmos. My research found that successful victim mobilization through civil society organizations relies on a combination of factors, including support from the diaspora, government connections, international support, and solidarity among civil society organizations. Additionally, this thesis finds that the advent of the internet has become widely beneficial to victims as they organize and mobilize efforts for transitive justice.

Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 2022, Psychology

Precision treatment for depression may be one method of improving intervention effectiveness, especially among brief, self-guided interventions. Brief interventions are a cost-effective alternative to accessing psychological services (Karyotaki et al., 2017; Powell et al., 2020), but suffer from high dropout rates (Torous et al., 2020). If content is tailored so the most relevant concepts are presented earlier, treatment may be quicker in its effectiveness. One method of personalizing treatment is in skill strengths. However, research is currently mixed on whether clients benefit most from skills in which they are more (i.e., capitalization; Cheavens et al., 2012; Fluckiger et al., 2016) or less (i.e., compensation; Miller et al., 2005; Straumann et al., 2006) experienced. This study investigates whether pre-treatment skill use moderates the effectiveness of a brief, selfguided, CBT skills-based intervention on depressive symptoms. Participants (n = 291; 68% female; 67% White) consisted of undergraduate students who were randomized to coping skill modules (i.e., behavioral, cognitive, interpersonal, mindfulness). Participants watched module-specific educational videos and completed worksheets over three weeks. Participants completed measures on coping skill use, depression symptoms, and their appraisal of the intervention, with depression symptoms being re-assessed each week. There was a small, significant reduction in depressive symptoms for participants in all modules during the intervention. No differences were found between modules, nor was iii equivalence testing able to suggest statistical equivalence in effectiveness of reducing depressive symptoms. Pre-treatment skill use did not moderate rate of improvement. However, there was a small, significant, correlation between pre-treatment skill use and appraisal of an intervention emphasizing that skill, suggesting individuals expect greater improvement when taught familiar skills. This sugge (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2022, Electrical and Computer Engineering

In recent years, direct current power distribution and DC microgrids have gained popularity for a wide range of applications. However, unlike typical AC systems, DC systems must still deal with technical issues such as fault current management/protection, power flow control, power quality management, and the possibility of system instability. The T-type modular DC circuit breaker (T-Breaker) system utilization is proposed in this dissertation as a solution to some of the power quality problems thanks to its compensation capabilities. Inspired by the series and shunt compensation devices in AC transmission and distribution, the T-Breaker device can be utilized in a similar manner to improve the stability in DC grids. Utilizing its modularity feature allows it to be implemented in high voltage DC networks. Its use of locally integrated energy storage and a high tolerance for signal mismatch during quick network transients makes it a distinguished device. When its ancillary compensation functions (shunt, series and series-shunt) are combined with its current breaking function, it can be an all-in-one device that improves future DC grids. This dissertation starts with an overview of the power quality challenges of DC distribution covering the recently proposed solutions to each challenge. The main focus will be on the stability challenges under bus voltage and load power transients when constant power loads (CPLs) are present in the grid. Applications such as electric vehicles, ships, aircrafts and EV charging station contains power electronic converters (dc/dc, dc/ac) that tightly regulate the load, hence they act as CPLs. Due to CPLs' negative incremental impedance, when they interact with the DC system, they might destabilize the grid. Analysis of DC distribution systems's stability has been performed in preliminary studies, and passive stabilization and source/load converter level control strategies have been proposed to address the instability issue, but not (open full item for complete abstract)

PHD, Kent State University, 2022, College of Business and Entrepreneurship, Ambassador Crawford / Department of Finance

This dissertation consists of two chapters that aim to understand the effect of borrower political connections on lenders, borrowers, and borrowers' top executives. In the first chapter, I study the effect of borrower political connections on the loan syndication activity of the lead arrangers. Using passive political influence from a geography-based measure and active political connections from lobbying activities and election contributions, I find that, for loans to politically connected borrowers, the lead arrangers sell a larger proportion of the loan to participating lenders, are more likely to syndicate loans, and attract more participant lenders to the loan syndicate. The results are robust to matched sample and instrumental variable approach as well as to various robustness tests. Additional tests reveal that political connections are particularly valuable for opaque borrowers. And, politically connected firms experience improved creditworthiness, performance, capital expenditure, and cash flow in the next two years following loan origination. My findings are consistent with the literature on the value of political connections. In the second chapter, I examine the effect of borrower political connections on connected firms and their CEOs following poor performance related to financial covenant violations. I find that firms with political connections have less strict covenants at loan origination, are less likely to violate financial covenants over the life of the loan even controlling for original covenant strictness, and lenders are less likely to enforce a material covenant violation following the breach of a financial covenant. In terms of the effect of political connections on a firm's executives, I find that CEOs in politically connected firms are less likely to experience turnover or forced turnover following financial covenant violations. In addition, after firms have financial covenant violations, politically connected CEOs receive less reduc (open full item for complete abstract)

PHD, Kent State University, 2022, College of Business and Entrepreneurship, Ambassador Crawford / Department of Accounting

This dissertation consists of two essays on the impact of negative prospects on firm cost structures. It focuses on cost behavior for two reasons. First, cost structures, also known as operating leverage, play an important role in the level and the risk of a firm's profitability, and second, a firm's cost structure is largely determined by its managers' decisions and mirrors a vast range of operating decisions. The prospect theory argues that people may exhibit different behaviors on the same issue depending on whether these people frame the results as gains or losses. Specifically, based on prospect theory, people are risk-averse in the gain frame, preferring a sure gain to a speculative gamble, but are risk-seeking in the loss frame, tending to choose a risky gamble rather than a sure loss. It is important to investigate whether negative prospects can cause firms' risk-taking behavior because such risk-taking behaviors are usually value-destroying and associated with inferior subsequence performance. Given the evidence provided by the prospect theory literature, I conjecture and prove a controversial argument that when firms and their executives face negative prospects, these firms will adopt a rigid cost structure. In this dissertation, I examine two examples of negative prospects. The first essay examines the association between earnings or demand downside risks and firms' cost behavior and argues that firms may adopt rigid cost structures when they face earnings or demand downside risks. Traditional wisdom believes that when firms face high risk, especially high downward risk, they should adopt a flexible cost structure. Konchitchki et al. (2016) estimate a firm's earnings downside risk by comparing the realized earnings with the expected ones. Following their method, this essay develops an estimate for demand downside risk and proves that it is associated with firms' subsequent demand as well as subsequent operating performance. According to the prospect the (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Education , University of Dayton, 2022, Educational Leadership

Early Childhood Education (ECE) is constantly evolving as research examines a solid foundation concerning the life of learning and opportunity for young children. However, ECE is plagued with poor representation, low pay, long hours, harsh, sometimes miserable working conditions, and low teacher retention rates attributed to teacher attrition. The purpose of this action research study is to identify strategies that may impact teacher retention and mitigate attrition in ECE. The mixed methods action research study obtained data from six local early childhood centers in Akron, Ohio. Results showed a significant positive relationship between how long someone has worked in childcare and their current rate of pay or r(35) = .400, p < .05 (see Appendix D, Table 5), indicating that the longer someone worked in ECE, the higher their pay was. This was confirmed through interviews where everyone interviewed said the pay was the largest factor in consideration of leaving childcare. To create meaningful and sustained change within the childcare field, three interventions have been put into practice to decrease attrition in the field of early childhood education. The interventions that were put into place are; creating a mentorship program for the teachers, increasing the level of formal education of the teachers, and increasing ECE teachers' total compensation. With the implementation and completion of this action plan, early childhood centers will see enhanced longevity of the teachers within their centers. With an active and participatory mentorship program, a program to assist in increasing teachers' formal educational level, and a compensation scale that is equitable for the work that is being done, attrition will decrease. The successes and failures here will continue to set off a chain of events that can positively impact future generations.

DNP, Otterbein University, 2022, Nursing

Autonomous nurse practitioners are an effective and useful member of the healthcare team, particularly when given a less restrictive scope of practice at the state level. The autonomous nurse practitioner can help improve patient outcomes/needs as a decision-making health care team member. Ohio nurse practitioners treating worker's compensation patients are limited in treating the injured worker not because of the nurse practitioner scope of practice, but because of the bureaucratic paperwork worker's compensation requires of its patients/providers. The purpose of the project was to conduct a needs analysis regarding a legislative change proposal for the practice authority of nurse practitioners treating the Ohio worker's compensation patient. This quantitative study was completed by conducting chart reviews of worker's compensation patients evaluated by the nurse practitioner evaluating any disparities between work restrictions recommended by the nurse practitioner versus the physician. The target population for this study included nurse practitioners treating Ohio worker's compensation patients in the Occupational Medicine setting. Patient chart reviews were conducted, reviewing the work restriction instructions given by the nurse practitioner and included only initial injury evaluation patients that had a required Medco-14 form. The charts were randomly selected from the past schedules of the two practicing occupational nurse practitioners in a rural Ohio county. Of the 70 random charts reviewed, 100% had no discrepancies between the nurse practitioner work recommendations and that of the physician. Allowing nurse practitioners to sign Medco-14 forms will increase patient access to care, which in turn results in better patient outcomes.

Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, 2022, Biomedical Engineering

MRI is a non-invasive medical imaging modality with many clinical applications in major body regions. To generate an MRI image, a RF pulse is first generated through the RF transmit hardware, and the resulting MR signal is subsequently acquired through RF receive hardware. While there are many major advances in RF receive chain, RF transmit chain development has been largely stagnant. Outside of conventionalRF pulses for exciting magnetization, the RF transmit signals could have clinical applications to stimulate RF technology development. This dissertation focuses on exploring novel applications and technological development of the RF transmit chain to influence MRI acquisition. The following projects compose this exploration, which aims to stimulate new developments in RF technologies or improve current implementations. First, the RF transmit chain is used as a constant RF signal to create a motion navigator called Pilot tone (PT) navigator. This navigator is integrated with a fast simultaneous quantification method calledMagnetic Resonance Fingerprinting (MRF) to create 2D and 3D free-breathing T1 relaxation times, T2 relaxation times, and proton density (M0) maps. This study is a first step to address difficulties associated with quantitative abdominal imaging due to motion and long scan times from conventional quantitative methods. Second, the PT navigator is integrated with a quadratic RF (qRF) based MRF sequence for a 2D free-breathing simultaneous quantification of T1 relaxation times, T2 relaxation times, T2* relaxation times, and fat fraction (FF). This study provides a more comprehensive 2D free-breathing abdominal technique. Third, an old RF engineering concept called outphasing, is introduced to integrate with current hardware to improve the dynamic range of small amplitude pulses. This control technique serves as the cornerstone of other projects with future digital compatibility and high controllability, which will allow gene (open full item for complete abstract)