This thesis reports on an investigation into teacher commitment in secondary schools in Seychelles. The overarching aim was to gain an insight into the experiences and perceptions of teacher commitment in order to get a better understanding of teachers’ career trajectories and issues relating to teacher retention. Another aim was to explore the experiences and perceptions of the participating teachers, headteachers and policymakers on the factors that influence commitment and trajectories of secondary teachers at the different stages of their teaching careers. In order to achieve these aims a qualitative methodology was chosen with a combination of three different approaches: phenomenography, phenomenology and multiple case studies. The use of multiple-approaches was considered appropriate in order to enhance the results of the investigation of such a complex phenomenon like teacher commitment. The case studies focused on four teacher groups representing newly qualified teachers, mid-career teachers, experienced teachers and teachers who had left the profession. Data were sought from different participant groups in relation to teacher commitment, experiences and career trajectories. The exploration involved semi-structured interviews with secondary teachers, headteachers and policymakers. The findings show that participants describe teacher commitment in relation to altruism, personal qualities, pedagogical content knowledge and connectedness. The ideas of what constitutes a committed teacher for these participants reveal complexity in the phenomenon of teacher commitment. Personal, organisational and contextual factors are found to influence these participants’ understandings. The findings identify a complex interplay of personal and contextual spheres of influence on teacher commitment. Another level of complexity that the findings revealed relate to the interconnection between teacher commitment, teachers’ career stages and retention. The commitment of beginning teachers is found to be more at risk than that of mid-career and experienced teachers. Education stakeholders hold different views to those of teachers on the factors that impact on teacher commitment and retention. The study concludes by proposing a conceptual model for teacher commitment that illustrates its complex nature. Teacher commitment is multifaceted and the nature and level of commitment held by teachers involves the constant negotiation between these different factors. The findings of the study contribute to a nuanced understanding of teacher commitment and have the potential to generate more in-depth and extensive studies of this phenomenon. These findings may inform policymakers both in Seychelles and in other national and international contexts about issues relating to teacher recruitment, development and retention, which are worldwide concerns.

Tungsten is a candidate plasma facing material for next generation magnetic fusion devices such as ITER and there are major operational and safety issues associated with hydrogen (tritium) retention in plasma facing components. An ion gun was used to simulate plasmamaterial interactions under various conditions in order to study hydrogen retention characteristics of tungsten thus enabling better predictions of hydrogen retention in ITER. Thermal Desorption Spectroscopy (TDS) was used to measure deuterium retention from ion irradiation while modelling of TDS spectra with the Tritium Migration Analysis Program (TMAP) was used to provide information about the trapping mechanisms involved in deuterium retention in tungsten. X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) and Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (SIMS) were used to determine the depth resolved composition of specimens used for irradiation experiments. Carbon and oxygen atoms will be among the most common contaminants within ITER. C and O contamination in polycrystalline tungsten (PCW) specimens even at low levels (~0.1%) was shown to reduce deuterium retention by preventing diffusion of deuterium into the bulk of the specimen. This diffusion barrier was also responsible for the inhibition of blister formation during irradiations at 500 K. These observations may provide possible mitigation techniques for iii problems associated with tritium retention and mechanical damage to plasma facing components caused by hydrogen implantation. Deuterium trapping in PCW and single crystal tungsten (SCW) was studied as a function of ion energy and substrate temperature. Deuterium retention was shown to decrease with decreasing ion energy below 100 eV/D+. Irradiation of tungsten specimens with 10 eV/D+ ions was shown to retain up to an order of magnitude less deuterium than irradiation with 500 eV/D+ ions. Furthermore, the retention mechanism for deuterium was shown to be consistent across the entire energy range studied (10-500 eV) with the shallow penetration depth of low energy ions being the major factor in the reduction in retention. A change in retention mechanism was observed as tungsten temperature during irradiation was increased from 300 to 500 K. Modelling of deuterium retention in 300 and 500 K SCW specimens revealed that two traps, 1.0 and 1.3 eV, are involved in retention for irradiations performed at 300K while a single 2.1 eV trap is present for 500 K irradiations. Experiments suggest that the 2.1 eV trap is created during irradiation of tungsten at 500 K and this process also involves the annihilation of the 1.3 and 1.0 eV traps.

Deuterium retention in two types of polycrystalline tungsten was studied as a function of ion fluence, irradiation temperature and ion energy. Fluence dependence: D retention at 300 K tends to saturate in both Rembar and Plansee PCW. At 500 K, D retention in the Plansee PCW increases with increasing ion fluence, similar to previous results for Rembar tungsten. Even at a fluence of 8×10^25 D+/m2, no sign of saturation was observed. Temperature dependence: D retention in Plansee PCW decreases with increasing irradiation temperature (300 - 500 K). Energy dependence: varying the D+ energy from 100 to 500 eV/D+ plays a minor role in D retention in W, suggesting that D retention depends more on the W structure, irradiation temperature and fluence, rather than on the ion energy when the energy is below the displacement threshold.

Tungsten is a candidate plasma facing material for next generation magnetic fusion devices such as ITER and there are major operational and safety issues associated with hydrogen (tritium) retention in plasma facing components. An ion gun was used to simulate plasmamaterial interactions under various conditions in order to study hydrogen retention characteristics of tungsten thus enabling better predictions of hydrogen retention in ITER. Thermal Desorption Spectroscopy (TDS) was used to measure deuterium retention from ion irradiation while modelling of TDS spectra with the Tritium Migration Analysis Program (TMAP) was used to provide information about the trapping mechanisms involved in deuterium retention in tungsten. X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) and Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (SIMS) were used to determine the depth resolved composition of specimens used for irradiation experiments. Carbon and oxygen atoms will be among the most common contaminants within ITER. C and O contamination in polycrystalline tungsten (PCW) specimens even at low levels (~0.1%) was shown to reduce deuterium retention by preventing diffusion of deuterium into the bulk of the specimen. This diffusion barrier was also responsible for the inhibition of blister formation during irradiations at 500 K. These observations may provide possible mitigation techniques for iii problems associated with tritium retention and mechanical damage to plasma facing components caused by hydrogen implantation. Deuterium trapping in PCW and single crystal tungsten (SCW) was studied as a function of ion energy and substrate temperature. Deuterium retention was shown to decrease with decreasing ion energy below 100 eV/D+. Irradiation of tungsten specimens with 10 eV/D+ ions was shown to retain up to an order of magnitude less deuterium than irradiation with 500 eV/D+ ions. Furthermore, the retention mechanism for deuterium was shown to be consistent across the entire energy range studied (10-500 eV) with the shallow penetration depth of low energy ions being the major factor in the reduction in retention. A change in retention mechanism was observed as tungsten temperature during irradiation was increased from 300 to 500 K. Modelling of deuterium retention in 300 and 500 K SCW specimens revealed that two traps, 1.0 and 1.3 eV, are involved in retention for irradiations performed at 300K while a single 2.1 eV trap is present for 500 K irradiations. Experiments suggest that the 2.1 eV trap is created during irradiation of tungsten at 500 K and this process also involves the annihilation of the 1.3 and 1.0 eV traps.

Deuterium retention in two types of polycrystalline tungsten was studied as a function of ion fluence, irradiation temperature and ion energy. Fluence dependence: D retention at 300 K tends to saturate in both Rembar and Plansee PCW. At 500 K, D retention in the Plansee PCW increases with increasing ion fluence, similar to previous results for Rembar tungsten. Even at a fluence of 8×10^25 D+/m2, no sign of saturation was observed. Temperature dependence: D retention in Plansee PCW decreases with increasing irradiation temperature (300 - 500 K). Energy dependence: varying the D+ energy from 100 to 500 eV/D+ plays a minor role in D retention in W, suggesting that D retention depends more on the W structure, irradiation temperature and fluence, rather than on the ion energy when the energy is below the displacement threshold.

Employee retention is one of the challenges facing many business organisations today. For many organisations, strategic staffing has become a concern because the ability to hold on to highly talented core employees can be crucial to future survival. This empirical study examined the current human resource management (HRM) practices of Australian organisations in the retention of their core employees. In particular, the research identified the core elements of HRM practices, which strongly influence the decision for core employees to stay. The study comprise three phases: (1) a preliminary investigation, utilising the Delphi Technique to obtain the opinions of an expert panel of thirteen, (2) in-depth interviews, involving twelve human resource managers of Australian organisations and (3) a quantitative survey of 800 employees from nine Australian organisations. The findings revealed greater insights into the HRM-retention relationship and provided empirical validation of the relationship. More specifically, the research identified eight retention factors that influence the decision of core employees to stay. These specific factors consisted of two bundles of practices: HR factors (e.g., person organisational fit, remuneration, reward and recognition, training and career development, challenging job opportunities) and Organisational factors (e.g., leadership behaviour, company culture and policies, teamwork relationship and satisfactory work environment). The outcome of the HRM-retention relationship was examined through organisational commitment and turnover intention using multiple regression analysis. The findings of this study revealed positive significant co-relationships between the eight factors and organisational commitment. Moreover, it was highlighted that commitment acted as a partial mediator of remuneration, recognition and reward, training and career development and work environment on intent to stay. Commitment fully mediated the relationship person organisational fit, teamwork relationship, culture and policies and intention to stay. The study produced a model suitable for use by human resource practitioners as a guide in determining what initiatives an organisation should adopt to retain their critical employees. This research has also made a contribution by illuminating the current employment relationships in Australian organisations and providing relevant empirical evidence to support the theoretical model of Human Resource Architecture, developed by Lepak and Snell (1999) and, as a result, creating a configuration for an Australian Human Resource Architecture model.

Thesis (M.Ed.)--Regis University, Denver, Colo., 2007. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on Jan 17, 2008). Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A. in human development)--Washington State University, May 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 49-52).

Thesis (MIHM) -- Auckland University of Technology, 2004. / Also held in print (62 leaves, 30 cm.) in Wellesley Theses Collection (T 658.314 THE)