Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA), Ohio University, 2023, Business Administration

Feedback is worthless if it is ineffective in creating a positive change. Research has proven that the source and frequency of feedback are some of the many characteristics that companies can alter to create effective feedback. Our study utilized a survey to discover which elements of feedback companies can manipulate to increase their employees' motivation to change and extend this body of research by examining how platform and type of feedback affect motivation to change. Perceived competency, fairness, and responsibility were also measured to determine whether they had a mediating effect on the variables. The results suggest that quantitative and in-person feedback led to increased motivation to change, with perceived competency and perceived responsibility as significant mediating variables. This study contributes to both research and practice by exploring various ways to manipulate negative feedback to make it more effective for employees.

Committee: Aaron Wilson (Advisor) Subjects: Accounting; Business Administration; Management

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2019, Mathematics (Arts and Sciences)

We study a simple model of many cells in a bioreactor in which cells in one part of the cycle called the signaling region may affect the growth rate of other cells in another part called the responsive region. The influence of one part to another is represented by a feedback function. For negative feedback, the model predicted that temporal clusters would be formed by groups of cells. Primarily we consider the cell cycle model under the condition that each cluster has the same size. We focus on regions of stability in parameter space of special periodic solutions corresponding to clustered configurations that are invariant under cyclic permutations of the clusters. The regions of stability coincide with ``isosequential regions", triangular regions whose vertices are points where certain events in a solution occur simultaneously. For isosequential regions with a vertex touching the boundary of the parameter triangle, we prove that a cyclic periodic solution in an isosequential region is asymptotically stable in the clustered subspace if its index is relatively prime with respect to the number of clusters k and neutral otherwise. For negative linear feedback, we further prove that there is a stable cyclic periodic solution corresponding to any given point in the interior of the set of parameters. We consider separately the cell cycle model with two uneven clusters under negative feedback. When cells in the cycle are grouped in two clusters with different sizes, the values of the feedback function depends upon the sizes of clusters. We prove that the interval between the signaling and responsive regions determines the nature of the periodic solutions within the set of two clustered solutions. In particular, for any given sizes of the 2 clusters, there is a unique attracting 2-clustered periodic solution if this interval has length less than or equal to 1/2 and the system has an attracting interval of 2-clustered periodic solutions otherwise.

Committee: Todd Young (Advisor); Winfried Just (Committee Member); Martin Mohlenkamp (Committee Member); Alexander Neiman (Committee Member) Subjects: Mathematics

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2007, Medicine : Neuroscience/Medical Science Scholars Interdisiplinary

Activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axis plays a role in regulating basic biological functions in the basal state. During homeostatic perturbations, it potentiates and induces physiological adaptations that are designed to aid an organism in overcoming challenges and regain homeostatic equilibrium. However, prolonged HPA axis activation can be deleterious to long-term survival, so the HPA axis is subject to autoregulation via a negative feedback loop. The endpoint of HPA axis stimulation is corticosterone (CORT) release, which travels through the general circulation and inhibits further HPA axis activation at the levels of the pituitary, hypothalamus, and extra-hypothalamic structures such as the hippocampus. Central to HPA axis response and regulation is the glucocorticoid receptor (GR), a ligand dependent transcription factor that is richly expressed in limbic forebrain regions such as the hippocampus, medial prefrontal cortex, and amygdala. These same regions are differentially affected in several psychiatric disorders, and many of these disorders feature HPA axis dysregulation that includes changes in GR signaling. Females are differentially affected by some psychiatric disorders, such as depression, and there are well-established sex differences in HPA axis responsivity, suggesting a possible link between sex and stress regulation. Dysregulation of the HPA axis can also occur during the aging process. Previous studies using lesions and antagonists have implicated GR in feedback inhibition, but to date, the role of forebrain GR has not been directly tested. Here we present a series of studies investigating the role of forebrain GR in basal HPA axis regulation, and after acute and chronic stress, taking into account sex and aging as factors. We employ a forebrain specific GR knockout mouse model (FBGRKO), in which GR is developmentally disrupted via the loxP-Cre-Recombinase system. We show that forebrain GR is necessary for basal regulat (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Dr. James Herman (Advisor) Subjects:

Master of Arts in Psychology, Cleveland State University, 2009, College of Science

Convergent findings among several distinct lines of research have revealed that mindfulness, an open and receptive form of present-centered awareness, is positively associated with numerous indices of well-being. Much of this research has focused on dispositional mindfulness, the frequency with which one enters into mindful states over time. However, state mindfulness, the degree to which one is mindful at a specific point in time, has been left relatively unexplored. Current theories suggest that many beneficial effects attributable to mindfulness are due to changes in the way one relates to thoughts about the self. In this study we hypothesized that a heightened mindful state would reduce the salience of self-relevant concepts. Further, we hypothesized that this difference in cognitions would alter how people deal with self-threatening information and lead to advantages in one's ability to exert volitional control over subsequent behaviors. To test these hypotheses, all participants were told that we were measuring their personality traits to make predictions about their “sociability.” After completing an initial battery of self-report measures, half of the participants underwent a 15-minute state mindfulness induction, while the other half received instructions to let their mind wander. Immediately afterward, a lexical decision task was administered which was designed to assess the salience of previously rated self-descriptive words. Each participant was then given a report that contained negative feedback about the future of his or her social life. Finally, participants completed a dichotic listening task designed to assess self-regulatory ability and a self-report measure sensitive to state affect. Our analyses indicated that the mindfulness induction significantly reduced the salience of self-relevant cognitions and that the degree of this change significantly predicted improvements in self-control. Additionally, we found evidence that mindful people responded (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Ernest S. Park PhD (Committee Chair); Conor T. McLennan PhD (Committee Member); Andrew B. Slifkin PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Psychology; Social Psychology

Master of Music (MM), Bowling Green State University, 2007, Music Education/Comprehensive Music Education

The purpose of this study was to examine teacher verbalizations in band rehearsals. Three instrumental music teachers with two ensembles of different levels of playing experience were chosen as subjects. One rehearsal of each ensemble was recorded and divided into rehearsal frames. Using SCRIBE: Simple Computer Recording Interface for Behavioral Evaluation, data were collected relative to (a) aspects of music performance rehearsed, (b) sequence of instruction, (c) use of positive and negative feedback, (d) the effect of directives on student performance, and (e) articulation of performance problems in terms of instrumental technique or musical outcome. Primary attention was given to differences in teacher and student behavior depending on an ensemble's level of playing experience. Results indicated that teacher modeling of targeted music passages led to substantial improvement in student performance. All directors described musical problems in terms of musical outcome more often than as change in physical behavior. Directives requesting change in physical behavior led to successful student performance more often than those requesting a change in musical outcome.

Committee: Elaine Colprit (Advisor) Subjects: Education, Music