Clayton State University

Purpose This paper seeks to demonstrate the importance of uses and gratifications theory to social media. By applying uses and gratifications theory, this paper will explore and discuss the uses and gratifications that consumer receive from using social media. This paper seeks to provide a better and more comprehensive understanding of why consumers use social media. Design/methodology/approach Exploratory study was conducted. 25 in‐depth interviews were conducted with individuals who use social media. Findings This study identified ten uses and gratifications for using social media. The ten uses and gratifications are: social interaction, information seeking, pass time, entertainment, relaxation, communicatory utility, convenience utility, expression of opinion, information sharing, and surveillance/knowledge about others. Research limitations/implications Limitations are small sample size. Research implications are that uses and gratifications theory has specific relevance to social media and should be given more prominence. Uses and gratifications theory helps explain the many and varied reasons why consumers use social media. Practical implications This paper helps organizations to understand why consumers use social media and what gratifications they receive from social media. Originality/value This paper makes the contribution that uses and gratifications theory has specific relevance and should be given more prominence within the area of social media. This paper also provides a rich and vivid understanding of why consumers use social media.

International entrepreneurship research maintains that firms with strong entrepreneurial orientations expand to international markets to enhance performance. Yet these firms can suffer from resource constraints as they move abroad. To alleviate this problem, previous research has suggested participation in strategic alliances. We developed and tested a theoretical perspective that merged these ideas, maintaining that firm–level entrepreneurial orientation is associated with higher international performance both directly and in combination with participation in foreign market research or marketing alliances. Based on surveys of U.S. and U.K. firms, our findings indicate that small and medium–sized enterprises (SMEs) have higher international performance when they possess greater entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and when the type of alliance (research or marketing) used is aligned with the capabilities of the firm. Further we find that participating in alliances strengthens the relation between EO and international performance. These results have important implications for managers and policy makers interested in improving SME international performance.

Although small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) account for a significant portion of international trade, little is know about how they make international entry mode decisions. Transaction cost theory has been widely used to study entry mode selection for large firms. Here we apply the theory to SME mode choices. Further, we set out to determine if SME transaction cost mode choices provide superior performance to other mode choices. We found that transaction cost theory did a good job of explaining SME mode choice and that SMEs that used transaction cost–predicted mode choices performed significantly better than firms using other modes.

The 2015 feedlot consulting nutritionist survey is a collaborative project between New Mexico State University and Texas Tech University that focuses on summarizing the professional practices of consulting feedlot nutritionists and updates a 2007 survey. Forty-nine consulting feedlot nutritionists were asked to participate, of which 24 completed the survey. The nutritionists surveyed service over 14,000,000 cattle annually and were representatives from individual consulting practices (54.2%), corporate cattle feeding companies (20.8%), corporate feed manufacturing companies (20.8%), or a combination of consulting practices (4.2%). The survey was completed using a web-based survey tool and contained 101 questions that were divided into sections regarding general information about the consulting practice; general cattle management; receiving cattle management, diet adaption; mixers, feed mills, and feeding management; grains and grain processing; grain by-product use; roughage use; information about supplements and microingredients; liquid feed use; nutrient formulation; feed additive use; and information used as a basis for nutritional recommendations. In most cases, the results of the current survey were similar to those reported for the 2007 survey, with a few notable exceptions such as shifts in cattle numbers and preferences for specific feedstuffs. The present study introduced a number of new questions not included in the 2007 survey that focused on management strategies used in the receiving period. Data from this survey provide insight into current nutritional and management practices of consulting nutritionists and, as in past surveys, should be useful for informing national committees that make nutritional recommendations for cattle, as well as nutrition and management strategies employed within university research settings.

Recent research and theory suggest that mindfulness, or enhanced attention and awareness in the present moment [Brown and Ryan, 2003], may be linked to lower levels of ego-involvement and, as a result, may have implications for lowering hostility and aggressive behavior. Accordingly, we conducted two studies to examine the potential aggression-mitigating role of mindfulness. In Study 1, we found that dispositional mindfulness correlated negatively with self-reported aggressiveness and hostile attribution bias. In Study 2, participants made mindful before receiving social rejection feedback displayed less-aggressive behavior than did rejected participants not made mindful. Discussion centers on potential mechanisms by which mindfulness operates to reduce aggressive behavior.

The field of organic electrochromics is reviewed here, with particular focus on how the “electrochromic” as a functional material can be brought from the current level of accurate laboratory synthesis and characterization to the device and application level through a number of suited roll‐to‐roll methods compatible with upscaling and manufacture. The successful approaches to operational devices are presented in detail, as well as areas where future research would have a high impact and accelerate the development such as highly conducting and transparent substrates, electrolytes adapted for multilayer application and morphologically stable conjugated polymers.

The usual means of assessing the health of newly received beef cattle susceptible to bovine respiratory disease (BRD) are subjective, typically involving visual evaluation aided by minimal clinical measurements. Recent evidence based on the occurrence of pneumonic lung lesions at slaughter indicates a need for more accurate methods of diagnosing BRD. Inadequate passive immune transfer at birth may be an important risk factor in susceptibility to BRD, suggesting the need for management to improve passive transfer success rates. Preweaning management and vaccination practices offer opportunities for beef cattle producers to improve the immune status of newly weaned calves and decrease postweaning BRD. Feeding diets with higher levels of concentrate typically improves performance by newly weaned or received cattle, as does feeding diets supplemented with protein; however, limited data suggest that increasing concentrate and protein in receiving diets increases the rate and severity of subjectively determined BRD morbidity. Research with receiving diet concentrate/protein level relative to humoral and cell-mediated immune function coupled with indicators of health and performance is needed. Supplemental B vitamins are sometimes useful in receiving diets, but the effects have been variable, presumably reflecting differences in stress and associated feed intake responses. Vitamin E added to receiving diets to supply > or = 400 IU/animal daily seems beneficial for increasing gain and decreasing BRD morbidity; however, further dose titration experiments are needed. Supplemental Zn, Cu, Se, and Cr can alter immune function of newly received calves, and some field trials have shown decreases in BRD morbidity rate with supplementation; however, several experiments have shown no performance or health/immune benefits from supplementation of these trace minerals. Formulation of receiving diets should take into account decreased feed intake by highly stressed, newly received beef cattle and known nutrient deficiencies, but fortification of such diets with trace minerals beyond the levels needed to compensate for these effects is difficult to justify from present data.

We report a straightforward strategy of accessing a wide variety of colors through simple predictive color mixing of electrochromic polymers (ECPs). We have created a set of brown ECP blends that can be incorporated as the active material in user-controlled electrochromic eyewear. Color mixing of ECPs proceeds in a subtractive fashion, and we acquire various hues of brown through the mixing of cyan and yellow primaries in combination with orange and periwinkle-blue secondary colors. Upon oxidation, all of the created blends exhibit a change in transmittance from ca. 10 to 70% in a few seconds. We demonstrate the attractiveness of these ECP blends as active materials in electrochromic eyewear by assembling user-controlled, high-contrast, fast-switching, and fully solution-processable electrochromic lenses with colorless transmissive states and colored states that correspond to commercially available sunglasses. The lenses were fabricated using a combination of inkjet printing and blade-coating to illustrate the feasibility of using soluble ECPs for high-throughput and large-scale processing.

This study examined the within-person relationships among daily self-esteem, felt authenticity (i.e., the operation of one's "true self"), and satisfaction of psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. We also included measures of affect to control for the variance these constructs might share with affect. Over a 2-week period, 116 participants responded daily to measures of these variables. Multilevel random-coefficients modeling revealed that authenticity, autonomy, competence, and relatedness were all positively and significantly related to daily reports of self-esteem, even when we controlled for the contributions of pleasant and unpleasant affect. We discuss the roles of authenticity and psychological needs in daily feelings of self-worth.

What key factors result in superior export performance for small firms from small countries? Drawing on the internationalization process model and organizational learning theory, the authors hypothesize and find that (1) emphasizing international sales while (2) restricting exports to a few foreign markets results in superior perceived export performance for the sample of small firms from Greece and several Caribbean countries. Emphasizing international sales while focusing on a few markets enables small firms to develop expertise in those markets, build strong distribution networks, and manage export activities effectively.

This article hypothesizes that, on average, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that use a systematic methodology in selecting foreign target markets (what we call systematic market selection) perform better than SMEs using an ad hoc international market selection methodology. Using a sample of Greek exporting firms, we found that systematic international market selection is a significant determinant of export performance, even when controlling for decision-maker and firm-specific characteristics previous studies found to be related to export success. Implications for managers, trade promotion agencies, and future research are discussed.

The authors present an outbreak of disease associated with exposure to Stachybotrys chartarum and Aspergillus species. A courthouse and two associated office buildings had generated discomfort among employees for two years since initial occupancy. Multiple interventions had been unsuccessful An initial evaluation of 14 individuals identified three with potential asthma and three with symptoms consistent with interstitial lung disease. A clinical screening protocol to identify individuals who should be removed from work identified three likely and seven possible cases of building-related asthma. Detailed environmental and engineering assessments of the building identified major problems in mechanical system design, building construction, and operational strategies leading to excess moisture and elevated relative humidities. Moisture-damaged interior surfaces in both buildings were contaminated with S. chartarum, A. versicolor, and Penicillium species. Aspergillus species, especially A. versicolor, at concentrations of 10(1) to 10(4)/m3 dominated the indoor air under normal operating conditions. Bulk samples also revealed large quantities of Stachybotrys. A questionnaire survey of the three case and two control buildings documented between three- and 15-fold increases in symptoms. A nested case-control study suggested emphysematous-like disease in individuals meeting questionnaire definitions for cases. Replication of analysis strategies used in similar previous investigations suggested an association between worsening symptoms and decreased diffusing capacity of the lung. Performance on neuropsychological measures was similar for both cases and controls, although workers with symptoms reported increased levels of current but not past psychiatric symptomatology. Chemical analyses demonstrated the presence of satratoxins G and H. Cytotoxic laboratory analyses demonstrated the presence of agents with biological effectiveness in bulk materials. No association was seen between IgE or IgG antibodies and the presence of disease. This outbreak represents a likely human response to inhaled fungal toxins in indoor environments. Moisture indoors represents a public health issue currently inadequately addressed by building, health, or housing codes.

Scholars (e.g., Burgel & Murray, 2000 ; Jones, 1999 ; Zacharakis, 1997 ) have suggested that small and medium–sized enterprise (SME) international entry mode selection is an important new research area. In this study we attempt to determine if a model of large firm entry mode selection can be applied to SME entry mode choice. Using Dunning's eclectic framework, we examined SME entry into Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). We found that Dunning's eclectic framework did a good job of predicting SME entry mode selection in CEE markets. Managerial implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Innovation is generally viewed as critical to the competitive health organizations, industries, and nations. As such, how, why, when, and which organizations innovate has been a subject interest in such diverse literatures as economics, business strategy, RD March and Simon, 1958). Although, as will be discussed later, there are various definitions slack (Bourgeois, 1981), all them reflect the notion excess resources that both cushion the organization from environmental changes and represent an opportunity for discretionary allocations, such as to innovation activities. According to Rosner (1968), slack allows firms to purchase innovation, absorb failure, bear the cost developing and implementing innovations, and explore ideas in advance of an actual need. As an illustration, Lee and Grewal (2004) showed that slack was related to retailers' adoption the Internet as a communication channel. However, this cushion, which can enhance the competitive position the firm and be a source funding for innovation activities, may also be viewed as an impediment to organizational performance in general and to innovation activities in particular. At the organizational level, some have argued that slack reflects inefficiencies in organizations (e.g., Thompson, 1967; Yasai-Ardekani, 1986)--witness the emphasis on consolidation, streamlining, downsizing, and other efficiency-driven initiatives the last 20 years--and that poor internal control systems in public corporations contribute to inefficiencies in deploying such resources (Jensen, 1993). At the innovation level, it has been proposed that slack gives rise to reduced discipline in the management projects, thereby impairing innovation outcomes (Nohria and Gulati, 1996). Thus, slack has been viewed as both creating funding opportunities for innovation, and as encouraging wasteful, undisciplined spending that hurts innovation outcomes. Trying to reconcile these positions, Bourgeois (1981) postulated a curvilinear relationship between slack and organizational success in general, while Nohria and Gulati (1996) and Geiger and Cashen (2002) extended the argument to the slack-innovation relationship in particular and offered empirical evidence to support such a relationship. These researchers suggest that too little slack may inhibit experimentation leading to innovation, while too much slack may lead to diminishing returns, or accelerating diminishing returns, as a consequence undisciplined spending and improper oversight innovation projects. The purpose this study is to further explore and extend previous research on the nature the relationship between organizational slack and innovation in several important ways. First, this study addresses some the methodological limitations the oft-cited Nohria and Gulati (1996) study, thereby testing the robustness and generalizability their findings. …

The nursing shortage remains problematic, yet research with nurses no longer in clinical practice is scarce. The purpose of this study was to understand the factors influencing the decision of registered nurses (RNs) to leave clinical nursing. A phenomenological research design was chosen to reveal the complex phenomena influencing the RNs' decisions to leave clinical nursing practice. Interviews were conducted with RNs who were no longer practicing clinically.

A series of vibrantly coloured π-conjugated electrochromic polymers (ECPs) were designed and synthesized with the goal of extracting structure–property relationships from subtle changes in steric strain or relaxation.

REASON FOR PERFORMING STUDY: In human subjects with back pain, the deep spinal stabiliser m. multifidus is inhibited ipsilaterally leading to atrophy, asymmetry and intervertebral instability. Specific physiotherapeutic exercises are required to reactivate m. multifidus. This study assesses the effect of dynamic mobilisation exercises on size and symmetry of m. multifidus in the equine caudal thoracic and lumbar spine. HYPOTHESES: Regular performance of dynamic mobilisation exercises over a period of 3 months increases cross sectional area (CSA) and left-right symmetry of m. multifidus muscles in the caudal thoracic and lumbar spine. METHODS: Eight horses performed dynamic mobilisation exercises (3 cervical flexions, one cervical extension and 3 lateral bending exercises to the left and right sides) with 5 repetitions/exercise/day on 5 days/week for 3 months during which time they were not ridden. Left and right m. multifidus CSA was measured ultrasonographically at 6 levels from T10 to L5 at the start (initial evaluation) and end (final evaluation) of the 3 month study. Changes in CSA of the right and left m. multifidus muscles and symmetry of m. multifidus CSA on the right and left sides between the 2 evaluations were sought using analysis of variance (P<0.05). RESULTS: Between the initial evaluation and final evaluation m. multifidus CSA increased significantly at all 6 spinal levels on both right and left sides. Asymmetries in m. multifidus CSA between the right and left sides decreased between the initial and final evaluations. CONCLUSIONS: Hypertrophy of multifidus occurred over a 3 month period during which dynamic mobilisation exercises were the only exercise performed. POTENTIAL RELEVANCE: Dynamic mobilisation exercises maybe a useful rehabilitative technique for horses in which m. multifidus has atrophied in response to back pain.

Growing research evidence on the ethic of care suggests that caring should be an integral part of the pedagogical methods implemented in schools. However, the colour blind ‘community of care’ often described in the literature does not disaggregate lines of ethnicity or race and much of this existing literature concerns elementary‐ and middle‐school students. This phenomenological study examined teacher care for African American secondary students, through a theoretical lens of critical race and care theory, as it was represented through the counter stories of eight ‘successful’ African American teachers. Findings revealed that teachers’ definitions and perceptions of care reflected a blend of traditional care literature, critical race theory and the literature on African American teachers before and after the US Supreme Court’s landmark Brown decision on integration. Findings also reveal the possibility of a pedagogy that I refer to as ‘culturally relevant critical teacher care’.

The shells of most lacustrine gastropods are typically small, weakly calcified, and modestly ornamented to unornamented. Similarly, most lacustrine crabs are usually small detritivores with weak chelae. A number of invertebrate taxa in Lake Tanganyika, however, deviate from these generalities. This study explores a predator-prey coevolution model as an explanation for the large, heavily calcified, and ornate gastropods and the robust, durophagous crabs of Lake Tanganyika. The endemic thiarid and viviparid gastropods from Lake Tanganyika have significantly thicker shells and higher frequencies of terminal apertural lip thickening than closely related cosmopolitan taxa from outside the lake. Tanganyikan gastropods also display considerably higher incidence of shell repair, following nonlethal shell damage, than cosmopolitan taxa of the same families. There is a strong positive correlation between gastropod apertural lip thickness and shell repair frequency among all the gastropod species analyzed. The endemic Tanganyikan potamonautid crab Platytelphusa armata (a molluscivore) possesses larger, more robust crushing chelae than other African potamonautid or potamonid crabs. In contrast with the cosmopolitan African crabs, the Tanganyikan crabs display molariform, rather than serrate dentition on their crushing chelipeds. In shell-crushing experiments, the Tanganyikan gastropod shells were an order of magnitude stronger than typical lacustrine gastropod shells, many well within the range of tropical marine gastropod shell strengths. Predation experiments with the endemic gastropods Spekia, Neothauma, Lavigeria spp., Paramelania spp. and the crab Platytelphusa armata showed that increased size, apertural lip thickness or shell sculpture reduced the successful predation rate of P. armata. Crabs with large chelae have a greater ratio of successful: unsuccessful attacks than crabs with small chelae. Among cases of successful predation, crabs with large chelae employed predation methods that required less time and energy (such as crushing the shell in the cheliped) than the methods employed by crabs with small chelae (such as peeling the shell from the aperture or the spire). The morphological, shell-crushing, and aquarium experiment data, considered in concert, provide strong support for the idea that the endemic gastropods and crabs of Lake Tanganyika have coevolved over the past 7 million years.

Although it is known that adult attachment is associated with self-esteem level (i.e., whether individuals' typical feelings of self-worth are high or low), little is known about how the attachment system is connected to other important components of self-esteem. In the research reported here, we examined how aspects of the attachment system relate to stability of self-esteem (i.e., the extent to which individuals' current feelings of self-worth exhibit fluctuations). Our findings revealed a link between high attachment anxiety and unstable self-esteem that is independent of self-esteem level. Attachment avoidance, conversely, was unrelated to self-esteem stability. These results are consistent with the developmental and social-cognitive characteristics of attachment anxiety. They also are consistent with recent research showing that anxious attachment moderates the effect of social feedback on self-evaluations. Discussion focuses on the theoretical and practical implications of this research.