Appraisal Strategies Research Articles

Lawel e dad tô de lagad: An Ethnography of the Collective Wisdom of the Blaans on Disaster Management and Environmental Conservation

The Blaan communities in the hinterlands of Sarangani are continually exposed to different forms andtypes of environmental hazards. These hazards are brought about by disasters such as droughts, landslide, soilerosion, flooding and infestation of rats and swarm of locusts on agricultural crops. This paper seeks to providea thick and rich description of the indigenous knowledge of the Blaans on disaster management and environmentalconservation. It discusses and analyzes various environmental hazards identified and experiencedby the Blaans in the mountain ecosystems of Sarangani. Another aim of this study is to analyze thefunction of the social network of the tribe and their coping mechanisms in confronting the effects of naturaldisasters. This study utilizes first-hand information that are gathered through intensive ethnographic field observations in the hinterlands of Sarangani. Participatory Rapid Field Appraisal strategies were used to engage the members of the community as primary participants of the study. Moreover, key informant interviewsamong senior members of Blaan tribes and focus group discussions are used to supplement information generated through participatory research approaches. This study concludes that the Blaans in the mountainous parts of Sarangani have immense collective wisdom on disaster management and environmental conservation,which they have learned from their forefathers. Nonetheless, this vast knowledge system of the Blaans is gradually eroding due to dwindling interest of the younger generations and disappearance of the natural landscape that serves as the social laboratory for the Blaans to learn about the kanfulong de tribu.
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Capturing Aesthetic Experiences With Installation Art: An Empirical Assessment of Emotion, Evaluations, and Mobile Eye Tracking in Olafur Eliasson's "Baroque, Baroque!"

Installation art is one of the most important and provocative developments in the visual arts during the last half century and has become a key focus of artists and of contemporary museums. It is also seen as particularly challenging or even disliked by many viewers, and—due to its unique in situ, immersive setting—is equally regarded as difficult or even beyond the grasp of present methods in empirical aesthetic psychology. In this paper, we introduce an exploratory study with installation art, utilizing a collection of techniques to capture the eclectic, the embodied, and often the emotionally-charged viewing experience. We present results from an investigation of two pieces, both part of Olafur Eliasson’s exhibition “Baroque, Baroque” held at the Belvedere museum in Vienna. These were assessed by pre- and post-viewing questionnaires focusing on emotion, meaning-making, and appraisals, in tandem with mobile eye tracking to consider viewers’ attention to both installed artworks and/or to the museum environment. The data showed differences in participants’ emotional states, appraisals, and visual exploration, which together paint a picture of the aesthetic reactions to the works. These differences also showed how viewers’ appraisal strategies, meaning making, and physical actions facilitated relatively more or less deep engagement with, and enjoyment of, the art. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for museum studies, art education, and theory in empirical aesthetics.

Contrastive Research on Attitudinal Resources in English Translation of Li Bai’s Poems Based on Appraisal Theory

<p><em>In order to promote the translation of Chinese poetry, this paper studies the differences of attitudinal resources between Li Bai’s eight poems and the English translation poems of both Xu Yuanchong and Lowell based on Appraisal Theory, and it finds out that the quality of the translation poems can be improved by adjusting appraisal strategies.</em></p>

Management by objective enhances innovation behavior: An exploratory study in global management consulting

The goal of this study is to explain the complex effect of management by objective practices on employees' innovative behavior. Instead of considering individual goal orientation and/or formal creativeness‐related goal assignment (as in the recent literature), the focus of this paper is on exploring whether the official adoption of management by objective practices may foster employee innovative behavior. Basing on the results of 2 exploratory interviews with 2 senior managers of 2 global consulting companies, we build our conceptual model. We use a goal‐based view to this purpose. Then, we test the model by using data collected by surveying 80 consultants employed in 17 different management consulting companies. We find that a conscious motivational path links goal‐setting strategy to employee innovative behavior through smart goals, whereas an unconscious motivational path links leader–follower relationship quality to employee innovative behavior through an appropriate performance appraisal strategy.

وظائف إدارة الموارد البشرية وأثرها على الأداء الوظيفي دراسة الاستطلاعية على الجامعات الحكومية( * )

Abstract This study focuses on the human resources management strategies represented by (analysis strategy, planning strategy, recruitment strategy, training strategy, motivation strategy, performance appraisal strategy, occupational health and safety strategy) and their impact on improving the organizational performance represented by its dimensions of (completing assignments, discipline, quantity of work, and quality of work). The governmental universities have been selected to be statistically the population of this study along with testing study hypotheses of ten governmental universities by taking the views of managers totaling of (254). The problem study addresses a set of questions that includes: · Is there is an impact of human resources management strategies on improving the level of organizational performance for employees in the governmental universities in Iraqi Kurdistan region? · What are the managers perceptions about human resources strategies in the governmental universities in Iraqi Kurdistan region? This study aims to determine the human resources management strategies and their impact on improving the organizational performance of government universities in Iraqi Kurdistan region. To achieve the objectives of this study two main hypotheses have been adopted, drives from the first hypotheses seven sub hypotheses to verify the impact of human resource management strategies on improving the organizational performance. In order to prove that a survey questionnaire prepared comprises of 74 items. This study depended on the descriptive analytical method as well as used Statistical Package for Social Sciences software (SPSS V.20) inorder to analysis data. The study achieved a set of findings, including: The managers' perceptions about the functions of human resources management in the govermental universities in Iraqi Kurdistan region came at a medium degree. The managers' perceptions about the organizational performance in the govermental universities in Iraqi Kurdistan region came at a high degree. Statistically there is a significant impact at the level of significance (0.05 ≥ α) of human resource management strategies in combined shape ( human resource analysis strategy, human resource planning strategy, recruitment strategy, training and development strategy, motivation strategy, performance appraisal strategy, occupational health and safety strategy) on improving the organizational performance its dimensions include (completing assignments, discipline, quantity of work, and quality of work). Based on the findings, the study recommended the followings: It is necessary for the considered universities to increase to activate human resource management functions in a manner that helps them to improve the level of employees performance, by monitoring the implementation of the plan in accordance to those strategies starting with workforce budgets and recruitment techniques, training courses, motivation systems, and so on. The universities that have been studied should establish effective recruitment programs to attract the best human skills in the labor market through depending on people with scientific, technological and managerial qualifications in addition to intensify contacts using all electronic media and networks available. The universities that have been studied should focus on the identification process of training needs , based on scientific criteria and most effective education systems analysis.

How Adolescents Search for and Appraise Online Health Information: A Systematic Review

To conduct a systematic review of the evidence concerning whether and how adolescents search for online health information and the extent to which they appraise the credibility of information they retrieve. A systematic search of online databases (MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, ERIC) was performed. Reference lists of included papers were searched manually for additional articles. Included were studies on whether and how adolescents searched for and appraised online health information, where adolescent participants were aged 13-18 years. Thematic analysis was used to synthesize the findings. Thirty-four studies met the inclusion criteria. In line with the research questions, 2 key concepts were identified within the papers: whether and how adolescents search for online health information, and the extent to which adolescents appraise online health information. Four themes were identified regarding whether and how adolescents search for online health information: use of search engines, difficulties in selecting appropriate search strings, barriers to searching, and absence of searching. Four themes emerged concerning the extent to which adolescents appraise the credibility of online health information: evaluation based on Web site name and reputation, evaluation based on first impression of Web site, evaluation of Web site content, and absence of a sophisticated appraisal strategy. Adolescents are aware of the varying quality of online health information. Strategies used by individuals for searching and appraising online health information differ in their sophistication. It is important to develop resources to enhance search and appraisal skills and to collaborate with adolescents to ensure that such resources are appropriate for them.

Psychometric properties of the Turkish Form of the Questionnaire of Unwanted Intrusive Thoughts: transdiagnostic approach in unwanted intrusive thoughts

Objective: Although unwanted intrusive thoughts (UITs) generally have been studied with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), transdiagnostic model of anxiety disorders proposed UITs can be seen in a variety of the disorders including eating disorders (EDs), body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), and hypochondriasis (HYP) instead of being OCD-specific. The aim of the study was to adapt The Questionnaire of Unwanted Intrusive Thoughts (QUIT) developed to evaluate several characteristics of the UITs in OCD, EDs, BDD and HYP into Turkish and to examine its psychometric properties. Methods: The sample was composed of 259 non-clinical university students. Having psychiatric illness within the past six months was an exclusion criterion, and the final analyses were conducted with 237 participants. Results: QUIT examines the UITs with three different criteria: frequency, discomfort and control/ appraisal strategies used for most distressing UITs. Reliability analyses indicated the internal consistencies were 0.84, 0.81 and 0.85 for obsessions; 0.91, 0.90 and 0.86 for physical appearance; 0.91, 0.90 and 0.88 for diet and physical exercise, 0.87, 0.85 and 0.89 for health related UITs, respectively for frequency, discomfort and control/ appraisal strategies. Confirmatory factor analyzes for all UIT contents’ revealed original version of control/appraisal strategies part with 14 items and 5 subscales works at the desired level in Turkish sample. The validity analyses indicated that Turkish version of the QUIT had satisfactory convergent, divergent and criterion validity values. Conc-lusion: Psychometric properties of the Turkish version of the scale meet the criteria of being valid and reliable and therefore QUIT can be used among Turkish population.

A Comparative Study of Pre & Post Stress Appraisal and Coping Strategies between Engineering and Pharmacy Students

A Comparative Study of Pre & Post Stress Appraisal and Coping Strategies between Engineering and Pharmacy Students

The Sierra del Cuera (Pennsylvanian microbial platform margin) in Asturias, north Spain

ABSTRACT Stratal geometry and lithofacies architecture from carbonate outcrops provide critical information for subsurface prediction of rock types, their spatial distribution, and reservoir quality. Such observations guide and support exploration, appraisal, development, and production strategies. The Pennsylvanian Sierra del Cuera (SDC) carbonate platform outcrop of the Cantabrian Mountains in north Spain offers such information through a seismic-scale cross section of a microbial, unrimmed, and high-relief platform to basin transect, deposited during an icehouse period. The SDC outcrops provide alternative platform margin models to those developed from coral–algal-dominated Neogene carbonate systems and serve as direct analogs for supergiant fields such as Tengiz, Kashagan, and Karachaganak in the Pricaspian Basin of Kazakhstan and potentially for other high-relief platforms with microbial margins. Key features of the SDC platform are (1) a flat-topped platform with a rollover into a steep (30°–40°) and high-relief (600–850 m [1960–2790 ft]) depositional slope and (2) the presence of a microbial boundstone factory from the platform break to nearly 300 m (984 ft) paleowater depth on the slope, stabilized by pervasive marine cementation. The SDC represents a nonactualistic type of carbonate platform margin where the microbial carbonate factory on the upper slope controlled the rate of progradation instead of the platform top–sourced sediment input. These features have significant implications for the interpretation of the evolution and controlling factors of carbonate depositional systems in outcrops and in the subsurface.

Do generation and regulation of emotions interact? Examination of their relationships in young adults

Emotions can be generated in response to inherently emotional perceptual properties of a stimulus (‘bottom up’) and in response to cognitive interpretations of an event (‘top down’). Similarly, emotion regulation (ER) strategies may deploy bottom-up or top-down processes, however the specific nature of these processes remains unclear. In this study we sought to replicate and extend previous studies that have investigated the interaction between ER and emotion generation. Specifically, we examined the relationship between both methods of emotion generation and ER in a sample of 75 undergraduate students who completed self-report questionnaires and a behavioral task of ER. We attempted to extend previous research by testing whether the positive effect of cognitive reappraisal on top-down generated emotions was specific to reappraisal or true of multiple ER strategies. Overall there was a main effect of generation such that top-down generated emotion was better regulated by cognitive reappraisal, expressive suppression, and appraisal strategies. We also found a main effect of ER such that cognitive reappraisal was perceived as the most successful ER strategy. We argue that ER is a state-dependent process that includes dynamic cycles between emotion generation and regulation processes. We further discuss expressive suppression as a top-down emotion regulation strategy in the context of our study despite debated literature.

Optimal Subsurface Appraisal: A Key Link to the Success of Development Projects-Few Examples

During exploration and production phases, the life of a hydrocarbon field can be distinguished by five main stages: Exploration, appraisal, development, production and abandonment. Of particular interest is the appraisal stage, where billions of dollars are spent across the oil and gas industry on data gathering activities with a view to reducing subsurface uncertainties towards optimizing reservoir development and management. However, very limited attention is often paid to assessing the Value of Information (VOI) during data acquisition requirement planning, before requesting for such information. Appraisal, when conducted optimally, leads to informed sequential decisions resulting in a development plan that optimizes cost, hydrocarbon recovery and attempts to maximize Net Present Value (NPV). On the contrary, suboptimal appraisal, either in the form of under, or over appraisal, impacts project economics. Individual oil and gas companies use their own strategies, procedures and metrics to optimize subsurface appraisals and safeguard profitability and hence there are no industry standards. The capital intensiveness of the industry and emerging low oil price regime has necessitated scrutiny on every dollar spent on data gathering in the current business terrain. Appraisal should be optimized by way of case specific activity of data acquisition to ensure project deliverability under maximum residual uncertainties achieved by minimum appraisal cost. To ensure that the appraisal strategy is value driven, an effort has been made to briefly recapitulate the different components of appraisal strategy necessary for appraisal framing and evaluation workflow. The appraisal locations selection and their sequencing combines uncertainty reduction, probability of success with VOI technique to determine the number of appraisal wells, their sequence of drilling and their justification that is based on economic merit. The effectiveness of this systematic approach has been illustrated through some real field examples. This workflow along with periodic look-back analysis, during appraisal to development phases, has proven to be highly useful for (1) improving the understanding of geological model; (2) assess VOI from appraisal; (3) reduce subsurface uncertainties and (4) improve decision quality and whole cycle project economics.

Demystifying the Medical Literature.

The published literature is not just the ongoing record of current medical and scientific knowledge; it is a record of the past and can give an eye toward future knowledge. Reading the published literature can give a view of the evolution of knowledge on a particular question, the growth of a discipline, the identification of new diseases, and the refinement of diagnostic tests. The reality is that most busy physicians read only the abstract of an article. The purpose of this article is to place published medical literature into a context and to provide some considerations for critically evaluating articles. This paper will provide historic background of evidence-based medicine and medical publications. Specific strategies for critical literature appraisal are highlights and pitfalls to avoid are outlined.

Better Not to Know? Emotion Regulation Fails to Benefit from Affective Cueing.

Often we know whether an upcoming event is going to be good or bad. But does that knowledge help us regulate ensuing emotions? To address this question, we exposed participants to alleged social feedback that was either positive or negative. On half the trials, a preceding cue indicated the feedback’s affective quality. On the remaining trials, the cue was uninformative. In two different blocks, participants either appraised feedback spontaneously or down-regulated ensuing emotions using a controlled appraisal strategy. Event-related potentials (ERPs) recorded throughout both blocks revealed an increased late positive potential (LPP) during cue and feedback epochs when cues were affectively informative as compared to uninformative. Additionally, during feedback epochs only, informative, but not uninformative, cueing was associated with an appraisal effect whereby controlled appraisal reduced the LPP relative to spontaneous appraisal for negative feedback. There was an opposite trend for positive feedback. Together, these results suggest that informative cues allowed individuals to anticipate an emotional response and to adjust emotion regulation. Overall, however, informative cues seemed to have prolonged and intensified emotional responding when compared with uninformative cues. Thus, affective cueing appears to be contraindicated when individuals aim to reduce their emotions.

Writing social history of socialist Yugoslavia: the archival perspective

It was not until recently that we could talk about a noticeable trend in research focusing on the social components of the 45-year-long history of socialist Yugoslavia (1945–1991). Possible research topics might include the history of social relations, structures, labor, workers’ self-management, industrialization, social stratification, class conflict, housing, mass culture and consumption. In socialist Yugoslavia most of these topics inspired ongoing debates, especially in the fields of sociology and philosophy. Historians participated briefly in those debates during the 1980s, but as the country disintegrated in the brutal conflicts of the 1990s, institutionalized humanities developed a negative stance toward the recent socialist past. In the new millennium, with the revival of social history and the constant state of crisis in the existing system, a new generation of historians began to explore Yugoslav socialist society. This paper argues that if this research movement is to be placed on solid ground through the use of primary sources, the first task for archivists should be to identify these sources. Based on an analysis of records applying social history methodology as a structural approach to the broad spectrum of human experience and social processes, it identifies several major categories of records relating to government, local self-government, judiciary, economic enterprises, political organizations and the trade unions and attempts to determine their current state. It concludes with general observations on some possible solutions for preserving relevant records as well as for the change in the appraisal strategies.

Maximizing the Value of Unconventional Reservoirs by Choosing the Optimal Appraisal Strategy

Summary The choice of appraisal strategy for the decision whether to develop a reservoir largely determines the amount of uncertainty that is carried forward to the development and execution phase of the project. Hence, the selection of an appraisal strategy can indirectly influence later go/no-go decisions. Reservoirs are appraised by drilling and producing wells. In unconventional reservoirs, these wells represent a small subset of possible wells that could be monetized if the decision were made to develop the reservoir (i.e., the appraisal wells sample an underlying population of possible wells). This study explores how an optimal appraisal strategy can be designed in terms of the number of appraisal phases, the number of wells to be drilled in each appraisal stage, and how long to produce the appraisal wells before deciding whether to abandon the project or to proceed to the next stage. It is demonstrated how the view on the average expected ultimate recovery (EUR) of a well in an unconventional reservoir can be continually revised as new information surfaces. Production data from a large well set from the Montney Formation, which straddles British Columbia and Alberta, Canada, is used to assess how accurately initial production predicts the expected ultimate recovery of a single well.

Standardized terminology and test methods for sulphur mineral phases for the assessment of construction materials and aggressive ground

Damage to buried structures caused by the oxidation of pyrite in structural backfill and the surrounding natural ground affected a number of British highway schemes during the late 1990s. Although the levels of sulphate in these materials had been determined prior to construction by the methods current at that time, the potential for sulphate that was subsequently generated by the oxidation of pyrite was not adequately assessed. Accordingly, new test methods, guidance and appraisal strategies were developed for assessing structural backfills and soil stabilization materials and potentially aggressive ground. This included defining a series of parameters that were then used in the classification and assessment of the natural ground and geomaterials in contact with structures. The experience of the authors has indicated that many practitioners do not to fully appreciate the chemical origin of the sulphur species or the precise meaning of the terminology, leading to misuse of the terminology. There is much scope for confusion and significant risk both that materials will be needlessly rejected and that inappropriate materials or construction practices will be used. The potential effects of recent changes to the test methods for sulphur compounds in the UK Specification for Highway Works provide additional justification for practitioners and researchers to understand what the tests measure and how to use the results. The aim of this paper is to provide a clear explanation of the sulphur chemistry and terminology for use in ground engineering.

Regulation of cocaine craving by cognitive strategies in an online sample of cocaine users.

Emphasis on the negative consequences of drug use is a critical component of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) skills to regulate craving. Despite the relative success of CBT for treating substance use disorders, effective human laboratory models of CBT are lacking. Recent reports have indicated that the regulation of craving (ROC) task provides a valid model of craving regulation for nicotine, alcohol, and methamphetamine use. The present study examined ROC in an online sample of regular cocaine users (n = 44) recruited from Amazon.com's Mechanical Turk. In the ROC task, cognitive regulation strategies were manipulated by instructing participants to think about either the positive or negative consequences of consuming cocaine. Participants were then presented with cocaine images while engaging in each cognitive regulation strategy and asked to report current craving that was then compared to neutral look conditions. Food images served as a control. A cocaine purchase task was also completed to assess economic demand for cocaine and its relationship with cocaine craving. The use of negative appraisal strategies that model those used in CBT significantly attenuated craving for cocaine. Cocaine craving was also stimulus-specific, with greater smoked cocaine craving reported by individuals with a history of smoked cocaine use. This online extension of the ROC task provides converging evidence for its use as a model of CBT cocaine-craving regulation. Futures studies can use this model to examine the mechanisms underlying the effectiveness of CBT for cocaine use and the relationship between craving regulation and drug-use behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record

Appraising Unconventional Resources: How Many Wells To Drill and Where To Place Them?

Summary Appraisal programs undertaken by exploration and production (E&P) companies are designed to resolve subsurface uncertainties that contribute to uncertainty in the economic potential of undeveloped fields. Value-of-information (VOI) assessments allow E&P players to quantify the economic value of their proposed appraisal programs before carrying them out. This study proposes a VOI methodology that is tuned to the nature of the subsurface uncertainties in unconventional plays and is capable of assessing a wide range of appraisal strategies (defined as the number and configuration of wells). It addresses two main problems. The first is how to characterize the uncertainty (in a play) that an appraisal program is intended to reduce or resolve. The second is how to cast that characterization of the uncertainty in a VOI context so that the merits of various appraisal programs can be evaluated. This paper characterizes the subsurface uncertainty that arises because of inadequate sampling of natural geologic variability. In this work, three quantities are assumed to be uncertain: the mean and standard deviation (SD) (variability) of the expected ultimate recovery (EUR) of the population of wells to be drilled, should development go ahead, and the range of the variogram that describes the spatial correlation of EUR as a function of the distance between wells. The optimal appraisal program would presumably depend on the true values of these quantities. The methodology is illustrated by application to a typical unconventional play. The VOI of an appraisal program can be optimized in terms of the number of the appraisal wells to be drilled and the placement of those wells. This VOI increases as the placement of the set of wells is changed from being clustered in the central part of the appraised area to approaching uniform distribution across the area. To obtain the optimal well placement, the incremental learning from changing the well locations should be balanced against the incremental costs that are required to increase the spacing of the appraisal wells. The study results demonstrate how the VOI of each incremental appraisal well decreases with the number of appraisal wells and how an optimal number of appraisal wells can be determined.

Impact of Performance Appraisal Strategy on Employee’s Job Satisfaction in Ghana Technology University (2015)

Rapid change and development of human resource management practices have made the existence of efficient and effective organisational performance appraisal system for the organisation inevitable. This study is designed to study the relationship between the performance appraisal (PA) strategy and its impact on employee’s job satisfaction. Questionnaire was used for this purpose and the study was conducted at Ghana Technology University Main Campus. Statistical population for this study is 60 employees of Ghana Technology University. SPSS software was used for the analysis. The major findings were that correlation coefficient for the relationship between performance appraisal strategy and employees’ job satisfaction was, however, positive at 0.001. Also, it was found that the relationships between performance appraisal strategy and the employees’ job satisfaction were statistically significant at alpha (α) = 0.01. These indicate, there are positive influences or impact of performance appraisal and employees’ job satisfaction and performance appraisal strategy on job satisfaction and satisfaction on overall position in Ghana Technology University. It is recommended that performance appraisal should be conducted with both managers and employees of Ghana Technology University.

Impact of Performance Appraisal Strategy on Employee’s Job Satisfaction in Ghana Technology University (2015)

Rapid change and development of human resource management practices have made the existence of efficient and effective organisational performance appraisal system for the organisation inevitable. This study is designed to study the relationship between the performance appraisal (PA) strategy and its impact on employee’s job satisfaction. Questionnaire was used for this purpose and the study was conducted at Ghana Technology University Main Campus. Statistical population for this study is 60 employees of Ghana Technology University. SPSS software was used for the analysis. The major findings were that correlation coefficient for the relationship between performance appraisal strategy and employees’ job satisfaction was, however, positive at 0.001. Also, it was found that the relationships between performance appraisal strategy and the employees’ job satisfaction were statistically significant at alpha (α) = 0.01. These indicate, there are positive influences or impact of performance appraisal and employees’ job satisfaction and performance appraisal strategy on job satisfaction and satisfaction on overall position in Ghana Technology University. It is recommended that performance appraisal should be conducted with both managers and employees of Ghana Technology University.