The study examines employment, income, motivations and barriers of adult learners, comparing results from a 2004-2005 study with results from a 2010 study of nontraditional students (age 25 and over) enrolled in four-year colleges that offered programs designed for working adults. The study compares responses gathered from a convenience sample of face-to-face learners (683) in five private institutions and one public university in 2004-2005 with those from a convenience sample of face-to-face and online learners (530) in three private institutions in 2010. Economic items for comparison purposes included part-time and full-time employment, and household income.

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Total quality management (TQM) or continuous quality improvement (CQI) are terms no longer being used exclusively within the manufacturing industry sector. Health care facilities, such as hospitals and nursing homes, are beginning to actively compete with each other for patients as well as face new regulations from the government. Hence, it is imperative that these facilities reevaluate their services and correct any production problems in order to be cost-effective and efficient in providing quality. Therefore, the objective of this article is to describe a model developed for improvement of hospital-wide services provided by the Baptist Health Systems' Montclair facility, a private, community hospital located in Birmingham, Alabama. The TeamWorks for Quality model, used to charter over 40 teams, illustrates how managers and employees can build a multifaceted process that delivers services in excess of customer expectations.

This study examines the use of interpersonal power by women in elected political positions. Power relationships, access to power, and the way in which power is perceived and wielded, are heavily influenced by the individuals gender schema. Gender schema, by nature of its social construction and reliance on individual cognition, is influenced by the power relationships that the individual engages in. At the hub of the schemas attempt to evaluate and organize information are interaction and the reinforcing power that is achieved through social acceptance of the individual. The basis of interaction, then, becomes the gender appropriate use of power. The analyses of data test a single hypothesis: H1: Female and male political leaders will differ in their uses of interpersonal power. Strong support is seen in the findings for the gendered construction of interpersonal power in political office. The differences between males and females identified in the findings indicate that females receive different information than males about the acceptability of their roles and that females both process information differently from males and employ different sources and levels of interpersonal power to achieve their goals. Males are more likely to rely on both coercion and expert power, while females are more likely to rely on connection power, the power of important relationships. This reliance on social network suggests a direct linkage between gender and the formation of interpersonal power.