Leah Greden Mathews

TVAL-Farm: A Qualitative Enhancement of the LESA Model

The Total Value Assessment Tool for Farmland (TVAL-Farm) is a tool which incorporates scenic quality and cultural heritage elements to create an enhanced Land Evaluation and Site Assessment (LESA) model. The enhancement of the LESA model provides insight and a framework on how to collect and incorporate qualitative public values within the quantitative environment of a Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Inclusion of these public values is essential for holistically valuing land parcels and using LESA to make land protection decisions.

Junk Car Clash on the Rural-Urban Fringe: A Case Study in Local Government Decision Making

This decision case is intended to provide an example of the complexity of local government decision making on the rural-urban fringe. In this case, a county is faced with making a decision about outlawing the existence of junk cars on personal property. Instructors can use this case to introduce topics such as zoning, takings, property rights, local government policy making, and the impact of the community on government decisions. Other issues could be explored, such as the role of culture and stereotypes in policy making, and how growth can impact local culture and lifestyle.

Exercise and work-family conflict: a field experiment

Purpose Recent research along with anecdotal evidence suggests that exercise may play a role in mitigating perceptions of work-family conflict (WFC). However, the temporal effects related to this relationship have been ignored. The purpose of this paper is to address this issue by testing for the effects of acute and long-term exercise on the work-family interface. Design/methodology/approach Employed females (N=46) were randomly assigned to a treatment (exercise) or control group (no exercise) and data were gathered at three points in time, over four weeks. Linear Mixed Model processes were conducted. Findings The authors found that there is a statistically significant long-term exercise effect on strain-based work interference with family and family interference with work. Research limitations/implications The sample was restricted to sedentary females, was predominantly white/Caucasian, and held white-collar jobs, limiting the generalizability of the findings. Practical implications Results from the current study suggest that exercise assists individuals in managing the work-family interface. While this is not a broad-sweeping call for all employers to offer on-site exercise facilities, the authors suggest that employers consider offering accommodations to individuals seeking to utilize exercise as a way to reduce WFC and general stress. Originality/value This is the first empirical study that examines the temporal impact of exercise on the work-family interface.

Współ-pisanie, współ-poznawanie. Transformujące epistemologie

Our article offers a vision of how collaborative processes of knowledge-making in an interdisciplinary faculty writing group can transform professional lives of isolation into ones that flourish. Central to our co-creation of knowledge are the practice of storytelling in a critical self-reflective manner and the elements of commitment, connection and relationship. Together we have found that these elements provide basic strategies for managing the isolation that would otherwise be a significant force in our working lives. Our commitment is epistemological and moral, as we commit to knowledge-making, but also to each other as individuals and as moral agents, to our values, and to bringing our values into our work. Learning about ourselves together can enhance our sense of identity and our ability to navigate limits and boundaries. Through supportive, intentional and reflective collaboration, we re-vision knowledge-making as fundamentally social and relational, and theorizing as grounded in the specificity of narratives of shared, lived experience.