Resource Appraisal Research Articles

Reappraising Stress Arousal Improves Performance and Reduces Evaluation Anxiety in Classroom Exam Situations

For students to thrive in the U.S. educational system, they must successfully cope with omnipresent demands of exams. Nearly all students experience testing situations as stressful, and signs of stress (e.g., racing heart) are typically perceived negatively. This research tested the efficacy of a psychosituational intervention targeting cognitive appraisals of stress to improve classroom exam performance. Ninety-three students (across five semesters) enrolled in a community college developmental mathematics course were randomly assigned to stress reappraisal or placebo control conditions. Reappraisal instructions educated students about the adaptive benefits of stress arousal, whereas placebo materials instructed students to ignore stress. Reappraisal students reported less math evaluation anxiety and exhibited improved math exam performance relative to controls. Mediation analysis indicated reappraisal improved performance by increasing students’ perceptions of their ability to cope with the stressful testing situation (resource appraisals). Implications for theory development and policy are discussed.

Assessing the Impact of Electronic Human Resource Management on Creation of Organizational Agility: A Study in the Bushehr Banks, Iran

<p>Agility is a series of capabilities and competencies, which can cause survival and growth of the organization in business environment. One of the approaches that help organizations to enhance agility is electronic human resource management (E-HRM) approach. The main objective of the present study is finding an answer for this issue that how one can use E-HRM approach to develop organizational agility. In this study that has been conducted using survey method, after review of foreign and domestic research literature and construction of conceptual model, a questionnaire would be provided and distributed among employees of bank branches of Bushehr City in Iran and finally, collected data from 315 questionnaires would be analyzed using structural equation modeling method. Obtained results from the study confirm the presented conceptual model and indicate that using electronic learning of human resources, electronic payment of human resources, human resources maintenance and electronic performance appraisal of human resources and also electronic human resource management (E-HRM) can affect organizational agility significantly in confidence level of 99%. In addition, effect of variables of Electronic employment of human resources and human resource communications on organizational agility has not been confirmed. </p>

Public geoscience in regulating Alberta’s oil sands development: A Historical Retrospective 1960–2010

Abstract Commercial development of Alberta’s oil sands deposits has been underway since the 1960s. Their growth has always been guided by a strong provincial energy regulator. The interplay of regulation and development has been well served by the generation of public geoscience at the regulator. The role of public geoscience in regulatory stewardship of the oil sands in the Alberta context from the 1960 to 2010 is examined. This examination focuses on the historical delivery of resource appraisal of the oil sands deposits and geoscience in adjudicative support during gas-over-bitumen regulatory disputes.

Analysis of Relationship between Weather and Outdoor Recreation Participants’ Behavior Based on the Transactional Stress Theory : Focused on In-depth Interview of the Camping Participants

This study started from the problem that although researches on consumers’ response to weather in the outdoor recreation settings are important due to recent climate changes, there are few related theoretical approaches. So, the purpose of this study was to figure out relationship between weather and outdoor recreation participants’ behavior by applying the stress theory from the transactional perspective. Specifically, this study was to specify the relationship between weather stress appraisal and coping behaviors. Data for this study was collected through in depth interviews, and total 17 participants are interviewed. The result is as follows. First, the stress camping participants experience due to the bad weather was confirmed as primary and secondary appraisal concept of the transactional stress theory. Second, as a result of in-depth interview, ‘facility resource appraisal’ reflecting the characteristics of outdoor recreation and weather was found in a secondary appraisal. Third, this research confirmed the claims of the previous studies have suggested that outdoor recreation participants to apply various coping mechanisms due to the stressful weather. In this study, the weather can be evaluated very different depending on the individual circumstances at least when the weather is bad situation . Therefore, future research should focus on the differences between the individuals of the evaluation of the weather.

The importance of threat, strategy, and resource appraisals for long-term proactive risk management among forest owners in Sweden

In natural hazards management, it is important to understand what motivates people to act when they or their property are threatened by natural hazards. Despite the importance of both threat and coping appraisals for responses to threats, less is known about the relations between threat and coping appraisals when risk management is long term. The present study examined appraisals of threat (cognitive and emotional), personal resources (cost and self-efficacy), and strategies (response-efficacy) as predictors of proactive management responses (past behavior and future intention) among forest owners in Sweden by means of a questionnaire (n = 1482). A path analysis revealed that threat appraisals and response-efficacy were direct predictors of past risk management behavior and the intention to respond in the future. Appraisals of resources, including cost and self-efficacy, were indirectly – via forest susceptibility and threat appraisals – related to threat responses. Although the model displayed reasonable fit for both owners more and those less involved in forestry, the cognitive appraisals variable was not a significant predictor of responses among owners less involved in forestry. In the full sample, the examined model explained approximately 50% of the variance in threat appraisals, and 28 and 17% in future intention and past behavior, respectively. Theoretical implications for how threat and coping appraisals are related during long-term risk management, and practical implications for forest risk management, are discussed.

Living in a continuous traumatic reality: Impact on elderly persons residing in urban and rural communities.

This study is an exploration of the contribution of exposure to the continuous threat of Qassam rocket attacks to PTSD among elderly residents of urban and rural communities. Specifically, we examined the contribution of sociodemographic variables, psychological resources, and perceived social support to PTSD, and whether this relationship is mediated by cognitive appraisals. The sample consisted of 298 residents of 2 different communities: urban (n = 190), and rural (n = 108). We examined the main research question by calculating the correlations of the sociodemographic variables, the psychological resource (self-esteem), social support, and cognitive appraisals with the dependent variable (PTSD). Our model explained the variance in PTSD (53% for urban residents, and 56% for rural residents). Higher levels of PTSD were found among the urban residents. Most of the predictors contributed to PTSD, but differences were found between each type of community with regard to the combination of components. Results indicated that the type of community is related degree of protection against stress-related triggers such as Qassam rockets. The psychological resource (self-esteem) and cognitive appraisal variables were found to be important for older people facing a continuous threat, and can serve as a basis for professional intervention. (PsycINFO Database Record

Linking HR appraisal system to management support systems: a framework and a case

This paper develops a framework for linking human resource appraisal system to management support system components: expert systems, knowledge management system, and business intelligence. HRAS is proposed to be a source for identifying domain experts and knowledge workers needed for the development of ES and KMS, respectively. The two systems will result in fostering organisation learning OL for the creation of organisation memory OM, and nurturing an organisation's intellectual capital. The paper then suggests linking team organisation, creative thinking processes, and personal traits measurement; namely Herrmann brain dominance instrument HBDI, to achieve effective intra- and inter-team communication throughout the organisation. Finally, a case is presented on how an organisation used BI as a frontend interface to HRAS data mart to improve HR performance analysis reporting. The objective of the framework is to support the decision-making processes in organisations as well as provide feedbacks to enhance the HRAS.

Feasibility of hydrocarbon resource appraisal of the Southern Siberian platform by electromagnetic data

Feasibility of hydrocarbon resource appraisal of the Southern Siberian platform by electromagnetic data

An Appraisal of Natural Resources and Socio-economic Development: The Nigerian Case

Nigeria has abundant natural resources to compare with other nations of the world. How do such natural resources compare with those of other countries at different stages of development? Do the existences of these natural resources guarantee socio-economic development? What exactly is the problem of Nigeria? Most importantly, to what extent is Nigeria’s development a function of its natural resources? Relying on international data sources and empirical research, a sample of twenty countries exhibiting a variety of patterns of natural resources and development were selected at random. Development and natural resources as composite variables were illustrated and measured with COPO-DEV Model as measureable in a non-conventional but more meaningful manner. The outcome indicates that there is no conventional thread relationship between natural resources and socio-economic developments because the phenomenon works differently, depending on whether consideration is on developing, newly industrialized, or developed countries. Moreover, the study also revealed that there is a link between Nigeria’s international trade and world poverty; whose prospects well beyond the turn of the century appear gloomy. The better supported, emerging industrializing countries of East Asia and Latin America, where the “prime of development” is rising, paints a divergent picture and revealed growth at an extraordinary momentum. Additionally, a tale of contrasting fortune between the comparisons of two selected countries indicated how long term annual economic growth showed a negative domestic investment translated into marked decline in economic growth.

Economic appraisal of shale gas resources, an example from the Horn River shale gas play, Canada

Development of unconventional shale gas resources involves intensive capital investment accompanying large commercial production uncertainties. Economic appraisal, bringing together multidisciplinary project data and information and providing likely economic outcomes for various development scenarios, forms the core of business decision-making. This paper uses a discounted cash flow (DCF) model to evaluate the economic outcome of shale gas development in the Horn River Basin, northeastern British Columbia, Canada. Through numerical examples, this study demonstrates that the use of a single average decline curve for the whole shale gas play is the equivalent of the results from a random drilling process. Business decision based on a DCF model using a single decline curve could be vulnerable to drastic changes of shale gas productivity across the play region. A random drilling model takes those drastic changes in well estimated ultimate recovery (EUR) and decline rates into account in the economic appraisal, providing more information useful for business decisions. Assuming a natural gas well-head price of $4/MCF and using a 10 % discount rate, the results from this study suggest that a random drilling strategy (e.g., one that does not regard well EURs), could lead to a negative net present value (NPV); whereas a drilling sequence that gives priority to developing those wells with larger EURs earlier in the drilling history could result in a positive NPV with various payback time and internal rate of return (IRR). Under a random drilling assumption, the breakeven price is $4.2/MCF with more than 10 years of payout time. In contrast, if the drilling order is strictly proportional to well EURs, the result is a much better economic outcome with a breakeven price below the assumed well-head price accompanied by a higher IRR.

Assessing Teacher Appraisals and Stress in the Classroom: Review of the Classroom Appraisal of Resources and Demands

Stress research increasingly emphasizes the role of appraisal in determining which events are perceived as stressful. The Classroom Appraisal of Resources and Demands (CARD) was developed to measure teachers’ appraisals of their classroom demands and resources in order to assess their risk for experiencing occupational stress. The present purposes are to review the literature identifying appraisals as a key determinant of stress, to describe the development of the CARD, and to provide meta-analytic results from 18 studies comparing CARD scores to the following variables: teacher’s job satisfaction and occupational commitment, burnout symptoms, stress prevention resources, and challenging student demands. Results suggest moderate effects for associations between the CARD and these constructs, and implications for educational policy aimed at reducing turnover and increasing teacher and student welfare are discussed.

Stigma as a stressor and transition to schizophrenia after one year among young people at risk of psychosis

According to stress-vulnerability models, social stressors contribute to the onset of schizophrenia. Stigma and discrimination associated with mental illness may be a stressor for young people at risk of psychosis even prior to illness onset, but quantitative longitudinal data on this issue are lacking. We examined the cognitive appraisal of stigma-related stress as predictor of transition to schizophrenia among young people at risk of psychosis. In Zürich, Switzerland, 172 participants between 13 and 35years old and with either high or ultra-high risk of psychosis or risk of bipolar disorder were included. With 71 dropouts, transition was assessed during 12months among 101 participants of whom 13 converted to schizophrenia. At baseline, the cognitive appraisal of stigma as a stressor was measured by self-report, based on the primary appraisal of stigma as harmful and the secondary appraisal of resources to cope with stigma. Positive and negative symptoms were examined using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale. Compared with participants who did not convert to schizophrenia, converters had significantly more positive (p<.001) and negative (p<.001) symptoms and reported higher levels of stigma-related harm (p=.003) and stress (p=.009) at baseline. More perceived harm due to stigma at baseline predicted transition to schizophrenia (odds ratio 2.34, 95%-CI 1.19–4.60) after adjusting for age, gender, symptoms and functioning. Stigma stress may increase the risk of transition to schizophrenia. Research is needed on interventions that reduce public negative attitudes towards young people at risk and that support individuals at risk to cope with stigma-related stress.

Making meaningful decisions about time, workload and pedagogy in the digital age: the Course Resource Appraisal Model

This article reports on a design-based research project to create a modelling tool to analyse the costs and learning benefits involved in different modes of study. The Course Resource Appraisal Model (CRAM) provides accurate cost-benefit information so that institutions are able to make more meaningful decisions about which kind of courses—online, blended or traditional face-to-face—make sense for them to provide. The tool calculates the difference between expenses and income over three iterations of the course and presents a pedagogical analysis of the learning experience provided. The article draws on a CRAM analysis of the costs and learning benefits of a massive open online course to show how the tool can illuminate the pedagogical and financial viability of a course of this kind.

Identification of Elementary Teachers’ Risk for Stress and Vocational Concerns Using the National Schools and Staffing Survey

Transactional models of stress suggest that elementary teachers who appraise classroom demands as higher than classroom resources are more vulnerable to stress and likely to experience vocational concerns. Previous research using the Classroom Appraisal of Resources and Demands (CARD), a measure designed to assess teacher perceptions of classroom demands and resources, has supported transactional models with local samples. The current study replicated this previous research with two waves of large nationally representative data from the Schools and Staffing Survey (1999-2000 and 2007-2008). Theoretically-predicted differences were found, suggesting that an understanding of individual elementary teachers’ perceptions of demands and resources in the classroom could have important implications for policy and research aimed at addressing teachers’ vocational concerns.

The Application of Intuitionistic Fuzzy Set TOPSIS Method in Employee Performance Appraisal

With the rapid development of knowledge economy, human resources have been one of the most important strategies of all walks of life. The role of performance appraisal of human resource management in the modern enterprise is becoming increasingly prominent, and has become the core issue of human resource management. There are two basic methods, qualitative and quantitative appraisal, in the employee performance appraisal. However, there are a large number of uncertainty fuzzy concepts in the human resource appraisal, which make lots of indexes are difficult to direct quantify. So the article utilizes the intuitionistic fuzzy set TOPSIS method to evaluate the employee performance. Through the case study, the method can evaluate the employee performance more comprehensive and effective. Therefore, the method can provide strong support in decision-making, such as training, promotion, rewards and punishments in human resource management. And it is an effective performance appraisal method.

3D modelling of individual trees using a handheld camera: Accuracy of height, diameter and volume estimates

Accurate tree measurement is necessary for applications such as resource appraisal, and biophysical and ecological modelling. This research tests the potential to use a low-cost hand-held camera alongside structure-from-motion with multi-view stereo-photogrammetry (SfM-MVS) to accurately measure trees. SfM-MVS is a computer vision technique, in which the geographic coordinates of objects are calculated from a series of photographs, resulting in a 3D point cloud model. This research tested the ability of SfM-MVS to reconstruct spatially accurate 3D models from which 2D (height, crown spread, crown depth, stem diameter) and 3D (volume) tree metrics could be estimated. Thirty small, potted trees were photographed and measured with traditional dendrometry to evaluate SfM-MVS derived tree size estimates. Tree volume was obtained via the water displacement approach xylometry. SfM-MVS estimates of 2D tree metrics had errors (RMSE – root mean squared error) as low as 3.74% (RMSEtreeheight=3.74%, RMSEcrowndepth=11.93%, RMSEcrownspread=14.76%, RMSEDBH=9.6%). SfM-MVS estimates of 3D tree metrics were better for the main stem than for the slender branches (RMSEStem=12.33%, RMSEBranches=47.53%, RMSETotalVolume=18.53%). Apart from height and crown depth, all modelled variables had negative bias, suggesting that SfM-MVS tends to underestimate the size of trees. The results show that SfM-MVS is capable of producing estimates of 2D and 3D metrics with accuracy comparable to that of laser scanning (i.e. LiDAR). Factors like the position of the tree relative to its surroundings, the background scene and the ambient lighting, appear to affect model success. SfM-MVS provides a low-cost alternative to remote sensing technologies currently used such as terrestrial laser scanning and, as no specialised equipment is required, it is able to be used by people with little expertise or training. Future research is required for exploring the suitability of SfM-MVS for specific applications requiring accurate dendrometry.

Natural resource potential of northern regions: methodological characteristics of comprehensive assessment

The economic assessment of renewable natural resources remains a relevant and as yet unresolved problem. Today, the economic assessment of natural resources is viewed as one of the priority tasks in the state strategy for environmental management. To a large extent, such economic assessment has become relevant following the development of market relations in Russia that require the valuation of natural resource potential. In Russia, the state cadastral appraisal of natural resources, which is already continuing for a second decade, serves as the basis to calculate the land tax for individual categories of land and does not allow making a comprehensive assessment of natural resource potential. This article expands the concept of economic assessment, describes the practice of its implementation in northern regions. It examines the traditional methodological approaches to economic assessment that are used today, such as the cost approach and its modi cations, rental income approach, market approach, alternative approach, as well as the methodological approaches based on the results of sociological studies, which have become more widespread recently. The recommendations put forward by the authors with regard to the economic assessment provide for consistency in its implementation based on a results-driven approach that ensures the comparability of calculations and improves the reliability of obtained results. The methodological approaches proposed for assessing the land, forest, hunting, fishery and biological resources of wild plants allow considering the specific characteristics of northern territories and implementing a comprehensive economic assessment of the region’s natural resource potential. The authors consider the expediency of calculating the unit value index of natural resource potential in order to rank the areas within the subject of the Russian Federation in proportion to the investment in the projects aimed at developing the natural resources. The methodological recommendations have been tested in the context of Berezovsky municipal district of Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area—Yugra.

Geology and world politics: mineral resource appraisals as tools of geopolitical calculation, 1919-1939

How is nature transformed into natural resources? Histories analyzing the state sciences of agriculture and forestry in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries showed that these sciences redefined nature as natural resources by making them amenable to cameralistic calculation, bookkeeping and accountability. Against this background, my first line of inquiry is exploring how, over the twentieth century, nonfuel mineral resource appraisals, i.e. attempts to quantify the metal content of the earth’s crust, became the first hold that societies took on earth matters, transforming them into mineral resources. My second objective is to describe and explain a widening of scope. Around 1900, geologists and other mineral resource experts began to appraise minerals on a global scale and survey trends in the worldwide production and consumption of minerals. I argue that, after World War I, states started to use global mineral resource appraisals as tools of geopolitical calculation, aimed at measuring and managing both natural resources and state power relations. The global perspective was only one reason why mineral resources became amenable to economic and political management on a vast scale, though. In addition, global mineral resource supply and estimates had to be cast and discussed in an explicitly functionalist language in order to fit the interwar technocratic ideas of planning and maintaining world order.

Rethinking butterflies: the affective, physiological, and performance effects of reappraising arousal during social evaluation.

This study examined the effects of reappraising stress arousal on affective displays, physiological responses, and social performance during an evaluative situation. Participants were sampled from across the social anxiety spectrum and instructed to reappraise arousal as beneficial or received no instructions. Independent raters coded affective displays, nonverbal signaling, and speech performance. Saliva samples collected at baseline and after evaluation were assayed for salivary alpha-amylase (sAA), a protein that indexes sympathetic activation. Arousal reappraisal participants exhibited less shame and anxiety, less avoidant nonverbal signaling, and performed marginally better than no instruction controls. Reappraisal participants also exhibited increased levels of sAA and increased appraisals of coping resources compared with controls. Furthermore, stress appraisals mediated relationships between reappraisal and affective displays. This research indicates that reframing stress arousal can improve behavioral displays of affect during evaluative situations via altering cognitive appraisals.

Manipulating cardiovascular indices of challenge and threat using resource appraisals

Challenge and threat reflect two distinct psychophysiological approaches to motivated performance situations. Challenge is related to superior performance in a range of tasks compared to threat, thus methods to promote challenge are valuable. In this paper we manipulate challenge and threat cardiovascular reactivity using only resource appraisals, without altering perceived task demands between challenge and threat conditions. Study 1 used a competitive throwing task and Study 2 used a physically demanding climbing task. In both studies challenge task instructions led to challenge cardiovascular reactivity and threat task instructions led to threat cardiovascular reactivity. In Study 1, participants who received challenge instructions performed better than participants who received threat instructions. In Study 2, attendance at the climbing task did not differ across groups. The findings have implications for stress management in terms of focusing on manipulating appraisals of upcoming tasks by promoting self-efficacy and perceived control and focusing on approach goals. Future research could more reliably assess the influence of similar task instructions on performance.