Micah L. Brachman, Richard Church, Benjamin Adams and Danielle Bassett
Emergency evacuation plans are often developed under the assumption that evacuees will use wayfinding strategies such as taking the shortest distance route to their nearest exit…
Abstract
Purpose
Emergency evacuation plans are often developed under the assumption that evacuees will use wayfinding strategies such as taking the shortest distance route to their nearest exit. The purpose of this paper is to analyze empirical data from a wildfire evacuation analyzed to determine whether evacuees took a shortest distance route to their nearest exit and to identify any alternate wayfinding strategies that they may have used.
Design/methodology/approach
The wildfire evacuation analysis presented in this paper is the outcome of a natural experiment. A post-fire online survey was conducted, which included an interactive map interface that allowed evacuees to identify the route that they took. The survey results were integrated with several additional data sets using a GIS. Network analysis was used to compare the routes selected by evacuees to their shortest distance routes, and statistical hypothesis testing was employed to identify the wayfinding strategies that may have been used.
Findings
The network analysis revealed that 31 percent of evacuees took a shortest distance route to their nearest exit. Hypothesis testing showed that evacuees selected routes that had significantly longer distances and travel times than the shortest distance routes, and indicated that factors such as the downhill slope percentage of routes and the elevation of exits may have impacted the wayfinding process.
Research limitations/implications
This research is best regarded as a spatiotemporal snapshot of wayfinding behavior during a single wildfire evacuation, but could inspire additional research to establish more generalizable results.
Practical implications
This research may help emergency managers develop more effective wildfire evacuation plans.
Originality/value
This research presents an analysis of an original data set that contributes to the broader body of scientific knowledge on wayfinding and spatial behavior during emergency evacuations.
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This work examines the returns to education for workers who pursue additional education after time out of the labor force. It compares those who remain in the labor force during…
Abstract
Purpose
This work examines the returns to education for workers who pursue additional education after time out of the labor force. It compares those who remain in the labor force during additional education with those who drop out of the labor force during additional education. It compares two cohorts of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY).
Design/methodology/approach
This work utilizes a difference equation to estimate the returns to education for workers who pursue additional education after time spent out of school and in the labor force.
Findings
The results indicate a sheepskin return of approximately 14% for those who remain in the labor force and a return of approximately 9% to years of additional education for those who drop out of the labor force. This contrasting pattern of returns is robust to sample selection correction and a variety of checks.
Research limitations/implications
This work does not fully account for all threats to causation. Further research could pursue these and make use of data from more clearly defined periods of education.
Practical implications
This work finds key differences between the internal labor market faced by those remaining in the labor force and the external labor market faced by those dropping out of the labor force. A policy focused on re-training workers should account for these differences.
Originality/value
This is the first work to compare workers who pursue additional education while remaining in the labor force to workers who pursue additional education and drop out of the labor force.
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Robert Benjamin Adams, Karen Nkechiyere Egbo and Barbara Demmig-Adams
The purpose of this review is to summarize new research indicating that high-dose supplements of the antioxidant vitamin C can interfere with the benefits of physical exercise for…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this review is to summarize new research indicating that high-dose supplements of the antioxidant vitamin C can interfere with the benefits of physical exercise for athletic performance and the risk for chronic disease.
Design/methodology/approach
This article reviews current original literature on the regulation of human metabolism by oxidants and antioxidants and evaluates the role of exercise and high-dose vitamin C in this context. The presentation in this article aims to be informative and accessible to both experts and non-experts.
Findings
The evidence reviewed here indicates that single, high-dose supplements of the antioxidant vitamin C abolish the beneficial effects of athletic training on muscle recovery and strength as well as abolishing the benefits of exercise in lowering the risk for chronic disease. In contrast, an antioxidant-rich diet based on regular foods apparently enhances the benefits of exercise. These findings are consistent with an updated understanding of the critical importance of both oxidants and antioxidants in the regulation of human metabolism. While more research is needed to address the role of timing and level of antioxidant consumption, it is clear that a balance between oxidants and antioxidants is essential.
Practical implications
The information presented in this review is important for both athletes and the public at large in their efforts to choose nutrition and exercise regimes appropriate to maximize the outcome of their training efforts and lower their risk for chronic disease.
Originality/value
This article provides accessible and comprehensive information to researchers, nutritionists, and consumers interested in optimal nutrition during athletic training and for obtaining the full benefit of physical exercise in lowering the risk for chronic disease.
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In this lesson, students discover how the role of espionage was crucial in securing a victory against the British in the American Revolution. Based on the National Council for the…
Abstract
In this lesson, students discover how the role of espionage was crucial in securing a victory against the British in the American Revolution. Based on the National Council for the Social Studies Notable Trade Book, George Washington, Spymaster—How the Americans Outspied the British and Won the Revolution by Thomas B. Allen, this lesson introduces students to various spy techniques and strategies used by the colonists under the leadership of General George Washington. Thomas B. Allen presents an intriguing and accurate account of double agents, covert operations, codes, and ciphers of the colonists’ efforts to spy on the British army during the American Revolution War. Using the Internet as a resource, students conduct historical research through the critical examination of a variety of primary sources.
Using the philosophical lenses of revisionist ontology and the politics of personhood, this paper explores the notion of Black Founders of the United States. I introduce the…
Abstract
Using the philosophical lenses of revisionist ontology and the politics of personhood, this paper explores the notion of Black Founders of the United States. I introduce the concept critical intellectual agency to argue that Black Founders brought unique contributions to the American experience. Their efforts were twofold. First, Black Founders established separate Black institutions that would become staples in Black communities after emancipation. Second, Black Founders challenged the supposed egalitarian beliefs of White Founders through media outlets. To illustrate, I focus on one Black Founder, Benjamin Banneker and his letter to Thomas Jefferson to illustrate how Black Founders philosophically responded and challenged White Founders prejudicial beliefs about Blackness. This paper seeks to challenge social studies teachers’ curricular and pedagogical approaches to Black Americans during the colonial period by providing a heuristics and language to explore the voices of Black Americans in U.S. history.
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This is a comparative case study of how three high school history teachers in the U.S.A. use art in their practice. The following research question was investigated: How do…
Abstract
This is a comparative case study of how three high school history teachers in the U.S.A. use art in their practice. The following research question was investigated: How do secondary history teachers incorporate the arts—paintings, music, poems, novels, and films—in their teaching of history and why? Data were collected from three sources: interviews, observations, and classroom materials. Grounded theory was utilized to analyze the data. Findings suggest these teachers use the arts as historical evidence roughly for three purposes: First, to teach the spirit of an age; second, to teach the history of ordinary people invisible in official historical records; and third, to teach, both with and without art, the process of writing history. Two of the three teachers, however, failed to teach historical thinking skills through art.
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Catherine M. Dalton and Dan R. Dalton
Looks at group decision making by Boards and impact of diversity on effectiveness.
Abstract
Purpose
Looks at group decision making by Boards and impact of diversity on effectiveness.
Findings
Extensive research fails to demonstrate the superiority of the separate board leadership structure. Other factors supersede the need for independence where board leadership is concerned. There is no substitute for a single strong leader who is accountable.
Practical implications
Provides executives with information on important factors to consider when determining board structure.
Originality/value
Of particular value to CEOs and other board members
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Amy L. Kenworthy and Laurie N. DiPadova‐Stocks
The purpose of this paper is to provide a context for the compilation of papers and commentaries included in this International Journal of Organizational Analysis special issue on…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide a context for the compilation of papers and commentaries included in this International Journal of Organizational Analysis special issue on “Scripting the next wave of exigent issues for service‐learning in our unscripted future: when technology, globalism, and community engagement collide.”
Design/methodology/approach
The authors of this paper are the Guest Editors for the special issue. As such, in this paper, they provide a brief history of why the special issue was created and how it serves as an extension to the first special issue (Vol. 17 No. 1, 2009).
Findings
There are five papers and six commentary pieces included in this special issue. Each raises a charge, or challenge, to the reader in terms of moving forward with service‐learning in the uncertain, complex, and highly unscripted environments.
Practical implications
The practical implications of this paper are those that relate to future research and practice in the service‐learning domain. This is contextualized as part of the collective challenge as the author move forward in a world where local, regional, national, and international connectedness intersects with social, economic, and technological pressures.
Originality/value
As the introduction, this paper is unique in that it provides an overview of the contents for the entire special issue.
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Problem librarianship in weeding book collections has reached epidemic proportions with serious short‐ and long‐range ramifications for everyone, especially for scholars in the…
Abstract
Problem librarianship in weeding book collections has reached epidemic proportions with serious short‐ and long‐range ramifications for everyone, especially for scholars in the humanities. Although a number of books and articles in recent years have set forth eminently sensible rationales for such weeding, deselection, or deaccessioning (as it is variously called), in actual practice pragmatism shaped by funding exigencies and a new business mentality among librarians generally pro‐duces disturbing results. The business viewpoint has brought fundamental shifts in how things are done, and as Larry N. Osborne suggests in “Hassling Memorials” (Library Journal 662, March 15, 1978), many librarians feel that “strategically the best thing they can do is load the board with young management types.” Such trustees, most of whom slid through school without Latin and maybe without French, and without much history, art, music, or literature either, are doubtless akin to many of the young librarians themselves, if you view the MLS as a weak academic credential. For managers, performance is the bottom line, and it is reflected in numbers—numbers of book circulated, numbers of books requested that are available in a given library, numbers of users of one collection of books within a library vis‐a‐vis other collections, even the cost of keeping a book in the library for a year figured by dividing the library budget by the number of volumes on the shelves. Not many people want to know that it costs $2.47 to keep Athenaeus on the shelves if nobody is reading Athenaeus. Such managers may value an attractive dust jacket over what is inside the book, preferring a small, easy‐to‐carry corrupt text over a ponderous definitive edition.
The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to examine George Washington’s approach to leadership through the lens of contemporary leadership theory and practice; and second, to…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to examine George Washington’s approach to leadership through the lens of contemporary leadership theory and practice; and second, to help modern managers further reflect upon and develop their own leadership capabilities through a historiographic examination of Washington’s leadership traits and skills.
Design/methodology/approach
Combining three different academic disciplines, management, psychology and history, the author utilized a historiographic and interdisciplinary research methodology, conducting a detailed exploration of the life of George Washington through an examination of a wide range of original archival materials, books, journal articles and other sources.
Findings
The present analysis reveals that Washington demonstrated a variety of well-validated leadership competencies (e.g. emotional intelligence, resilience, integrity, etc.) that are largely consistent with leader-centered theoretical conceptions of leadership.
Originality/value
This is the first historiographic study of George Washington’s approach to leadership within the management literature. Additionally, through the development of a competency model, the study demonstrates how Washington employed tools and techniques from a host of modern leadership theories to achieve critically important results.