The realisation that management today is increasingly about managing intangible resources is beginning to dawn on business managers and academics alike. Intellectual capital has been identified as the key intangible resource in firms. Consequently, ensuring that managers understand this, and that organisational structures and cultures reflect this, is fast becoming a matter of organisational survival. Therefore commercial banks will need practical methods that can be used to quickly increase understanding and commitment to these intangible resources.This study's main objective is to assist first time readers to understand the concept of intellectual capital in the South African banking sector. At the same time this study investigates if South African Commercial Banks do take this important balance sheet item in account when evaluating financial statements of SMME's.This study is investigative of this knew phenomena, and are backed by a comprehensive literature review and empirical study. The literature gives an overview of who entrepreneurs are, as they are the only creators of job opportunities in the South African economy.Secondly, the focus moves to the high failure rates of SMME's and how can they successfully apply for finance. Thirdly, credit evaluation are taken under investigation, and the role commercial banks can play to be more innovative when deciding on approval of a application, as well as the role of intellectual capital in the credit evaluation process.The empirical study consist of two questionnaires that was e-mailed to respondents, as well as personal interviews were held. Fifty commercial clients and 10 credit managers of the five biggest commercial banks in South Africa formed part of this study. The objective of this study was to determine if South African Commercial banks do take intellectual capital in consideration during the credit evaluation process. Recommendations are also made on how commercial banks can be more innovative to adhere to their clients needs. This study is of value not only for Commercial banks, but also for entrepreneurs who want to know what criteria commercial banks use to make a financial decision. / Thesis (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2003. / Business Management / unrestricted

Organisational energy is described as a renewable organisational resource that can be viewed as the differentiator between excellent performance and mediocre performance by organisations (Bruch&Ghoshal, 2003; Cole, Bruch,&Vogel, 2005). The intensity of this energy has a positive or negative effect on the performance of the organisation. The objective of this research was to empirically build on the drivers of productive organisational energy as found by Lamberti (2010) in a qualitative study and develop a framework that can be used to manage the enabling and inhibiting factors of productive organisational energy. Exploratory qualitative research was used in the form of the Nominal Group Technique. The sample consisted of 56 employees at three different levels on two different coal mines in South Africa. The unit of analysis was their perceptions and opinions about the enabling and inhibiting factors of organisational energy. The main enabling factors were found to be personal influencing factors with recognition, job security and management support being extremely important. The inhibiting factors are mainly organisational influencing factors which inhibit employees from dealing with the demands as required by the organisation. Bureaucracy, lack of discipline and lack of resources are energy sappers which demoralise individuals having a negative impact on organisational performance. The differences between the three organizational levels and between the two organisations were explored. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

Orientador: Antonio Carlos Pereira / Dissertação (mestrado profissional) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Odontologia de Piracicaba / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-28T09:52:57Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Paz_SabrinaHundertmarch_M.pdf: 1269648 bytes, checksum: f16bbf9960fd9eb99c887ffc0f814e45 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015 / Resumo: O conceito da odontologia minimamente invasiva, defensora da menor intervenção nas lesões cariosas e da mínima remoção de tecido dentário sadio vem sendo muito difundido na atualidade, uma vez que os materiais preventivos estão sendo amplamente utilizados na prática clínica. Dessa forma, este estudo é disposto de um capítulo e seu objetivo principal foi avaliar a eficácia e efetividade dos selantes aplicados nas lesões de cárie cavitadas em crianças e adolescentes, por meio de uma revisão sistemática de estudos e metanálise. Os critérios de inclusão foram: a) estudos em humanos; b) amostra incluindo indivíduos entre 5 e 14 anos de idade; c) estudos de ensaios clínicos controlados e/ou estudos clínicos randomizados com acompanhamento de no mínimo 12 meses; d) artigos publicados até dezembro de 2014 nas bases de dados PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane Plus, Single e Lilacs. A avaliação do estudo e risco de viés foi realizada para cada estudo. A metanálise foi realizada nos estudos considerados de baixo risco de viés e com resultados de leitura visual de pares através de software RevMan. A pesquisa produziu um total de 362 títulos de artigos potencialmente relevantes, dos quais 18 eram duplicados. Os resumos de 344 estudos foram lidos, sendo 335 destes, excluídos e 9 selecionados para análise de elegibilidade. No entanto, dois (2) estudos foram excluídos após sua leitura completa e somente sete (7) artigos foram incluídos nesta revisão. De acordo com o risco de viés de avaliação, quatro estudos foram considerados de "baixo" risco e três estudos de moderado risco de viés. O "forest plot" da metanálise mostrou baixa heterogeneidade do X² (3,62) e um resultado favorável para o uso de selantes nas lesões. Além disso, a probabilidade de progressão da lesão de cárie quando esta técnica foi usada era significantemente menor (p=0,02) em comparação ao grupo controle. Nossos resultados sugerem que a maioria dos estudos apresentou eficácia das técnicas utilizadas para aplicação dos selantes com mínima remoção do tecido cariado, mas nem todos apresentaram efetividade quando comparado aos demais materiais. Além disso, a técnica de selamento em lesões de cárie cavitadas parece ser eficaz, a curto e médio prazo. Contudo, são necessários mais ensaios clínicos randomizados de longo prazo para aumentar a evidência / Abstract: The concept of minimally invasive dentistry, advocate of less intervention in caries lesions and minimal removal of healthy tooth tissue has been widespread today, as preventive materials are being widely used in clinical practice. Thus, this study is arranged in a chapter and its main objective was to evaluate the efficacy and effectiveness of sealants applied in cavitated caries lesions in children and adolescents through a systematic review of studies and meta-analysis. Included criteria were: a) human studies; b) sample including individuals between 5 and 14 years old; c) studies of controlled clinical trials and / or randomized clinical trials with follow-up at least 12 months; d) articles published up to December 2014 in the databases PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane Plus, Single and Lilacs. The evaluation of the study and risk of bias was performed for each study. The meta-analysis was performed in the studies considered low risk of bias and results of visual reading pairs through RevMan software. The research produced a total of 362 titles of potentially relevant articles, of which 18 were duplicates. Abstracts of 344 studies were read, with 335 of these, excluded and 9 selected for eligibility analysis. However, two (2) studies were excluded after its complete reading and only seven (7) articles were included in this review. According to the risk of bias assessment, four studies were considered "low" risk and three studies of moderate risk of bias. The "forest plot" of the meta-analysis showed low heterogeneity of X² (3.62) and a favorable outcome for the use of sealants in injuries. Furthermore, the probability of progression of caries when this technique was used was significantly lower (p = 0.02) compared to the control group. Our results suggest that most studies showed the effectiveness of techniques used to apply the sealant with minimal removal of decayed tissue, but not all were effective when compared to other materials. In addition, the sealing technique in cavitated caries lesions appears to be effective in the short and medium term. However, it takes longer-term randomized clinical trials to increase the evidence / Mestrado / Odontologia em Saude Coletiva / Mestra em Odontologia em Saúde Coletiva

The purpose of the study was to identify the effectiveness of an online suicide prevention gatekeeper training at the University of Iowa compared to previous research, other gatekeeper trainings, and to assess differences between faculty and staff trainees. Participants were faculty, staff, and students at the University of Iowa that completed the Kognito College Students or the Kognito Faculty and Staff module. To determine the effectiveness, participants completed program evaluation surveys at pre-training, immediate post-training, and six-months after completion of the training. The surveys assessed four gatekeeper appraisal scales: Gatekeeper Knowledge and Beliefs, Gatekeeper Reluctance, Gatekeeper Self-Efficacy, and Gatekeeper Experiences. The first three scales assessed the participant’s perception of their current gatekeeper skills and the last scale assessed gatekeeper behaviors in which the gatekeeper engaged. Results of the study indicate that the training was comparably effective to previous research on Kognito and other in-person gatekeeper trainings in increasing gatekeeper skills. Furthermore, there were no significant differences in performance between faculty/staff and student participants. There is currently insufficient evidence to suggest that a specific gatekeeper training is significantly more effective than any other training. Future research, should continue to investigate the effectiveness of suicide prevention approaches and evaluate the specific factors which make gatekeeper trainings effective.

The Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) is one of the largest efforts of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) to promote healthy dietary behavior practices among the low income adults and youths in the US. Although the program is shown to be effective in achieving its stated goals, the cost effectiveness of the money spent on EFNEP remains largely unknown. This dissertation analyzes the costs and effectiveness of the EFNEP, and is organized in three essays. The first essay investigates the effectiveness of the adult EFNEP and evaluates the returns to scale on the money spent in this program by utilizing an indirect production function approach. Results indicate that the program has increasing returns to scale at the National level, although a significant variation exists across the states. The second essay develops a framework for conducting the cost effectiveness analysis (CEA) for the youth EFNEP. The CEA framework is then applied to the data from Virginia youth EFNEP to estimate the cost effectiveness ratio (CER). The CER is estimated to be about $75 per behavior improvement. The third essay examines the outcomes and the attributes of the youth EFNEP program using the Rasch model type measurement model.  Findings suggest that the youth EFNEP is effective in achieving its stated program goals. In addition, the program related characteristics are found to be important attributes of effective programs. Overall, this dissertation has important policy implications for improving the (cost) effectiveness of nutrition education programs. " / Ph. D.

Traditional analyses of operational effectiveness often lack consideration of civil-military relations. However, in operations with complex and ambitious political aims, such as democratization, stabilization and reconstruction, economic development, and respect for human rights, taking a comprehensive approach (the co-ordination of military, diplomatic, and development efforts) is essential. The creation of the Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs) in Afghanistan aimed to essentially operationalize the comprehensive approach but was largely viewed as ineffective. The aim of this thesis is to increase the understanding of why the comprehensive approach in PRTs failed to live up to its potential and increase operational effectiveness through a comparative case study of US and Canada PRTs. As often is the case with complex peace operations, the mandates given to both military and civilian leaders are usually broad with little detail and thus are open for interpretation. As such, leadership has significant leeway as to how to conduct the operation, and many leaders have different ways of doing everyday things based on their own dispositions. The current theorizing of civil-military relations largely relies on rationalist and positivist assumptions which cannot readily capture the everyday experiences and dispositions of interveners and are less than insightful when it comes to describing and explaining the nuances of civil-military relations. By using a practice theory lens (specifically Bourdieu’s concepts of habitus, field, capital, and hysteresis), allows one to move away from models of actions based on realist assumptions and analyze civil-military relations as the result of different processes, practices, and systems of knowledge. The principal argument of this thesis is that because the habitus of the US and Canada were so misaligned with the field, actual operationalization (or embodiment) of the comprehensive approach was very sporadic and was largely dependent on leadership personality, which negatively effected effectiveness. Without understanding the systems of knowledge and sense-making (the habitus) that underlie decision-making processes one cannot assume that leadership will change its everyday practices to better embody the comprehensive approach. Without this understanding, it is necessary to put in place standard practices, such as training and clearer mandates, to help mitigate hysteresis (or the lag between generating practices that are in line with the new conditions).

This study examined the relationship between teacher efficacy as measured by teachers' responses to the Ohio State Teacher Efficacy Scale (OSTES) and their students' achievement gains on curriculum-based measures (CBM). The study also examined the relationship between teacher efficacy and years of teach ing experience. A total of sixty-eight second through sixth grade teachers, from a medium-sized elementary school district in central California, completed the OSTES and reported their years of teaching experience. Reading and mathematics scores were obtained for fall and spring CBM administrations for each of the participating teachers' classrooms. The difference between spring and fall CBM reading and mathematics scores constituted the gain scores for each of the 970 students in these teachers · classrooms. These scores were averaged to produce a mean gain score for each classroom. Linear regression analysis using total OSTES scores as well as OSTES subscale scores as predictor variables and CBM reading and mathematics mean gain scores as criterion variables produced non-significant results. Linear regression using 24 individual OSTES scores as predictor variables and CBM reading and mathematics mean gain scores as criterion variables produced one significant finding. Two OSTES items were significantly correlated with participant teachers' years of teaching experience. Findings were discussed in terms of design characteristics of the study and item wording of the OSTES. Recommendations were made for educational administration as well as for future research.

Decreasing defense funds are forcing defense contractors to adhere to tight budgets. In an effort to reduce costs and improve performance, many defense contractors are developing performance management programs for measuring, planning, evaluating, and improving organizational performance. This study examines the Software Engineering and Maintenance organization (SWEM) of General Electric's Military and Data Systems Operations and attempts to initiate a performance management program for SWEM by developing two key tools: a performance measurement plan and a COCOMO model for software maintenance cost and effort estimation. The study includes a detailed systems analysis of SWEM, discussion of performance management concepts, and development of equations, data collection procedures, and worksheets for implementing performance management tools. Both the performance measurement plan and COCOMO model are illustrated through SWEM examples and results used to perform cost and sensitivity analyses. The study concludes with an evaluation of study methodologies and recommendations for future applications of study findings. / Master of Science

Ser dueño de un negocio puede ser por momentos agobiante. ASAC es una excelente opción que no sólo acompaña, sino que permite encontrar la solución a los problemas diarios desarrollando en nuestros clientes capacidades internas de gestión y ventajas competitivas fundamentadas en el conocimiento y el uso de la tecnología optimizando el tiempo dedicado a sus actividades. ASAC asesora a personas que trabajan desde casa permitiéndoles desarrollar estrategias que les permitirán reducir costos alcanzando la rentabilidad esperada, mejorando procesos y resultados, preparando a los emprendedores para ser dueños de su tiempo y no un empleado de su propia empresa; los ayudará a reencontrarse con los sueños que los llevaron a emprender y abrir su propio negocio. / Owning a business can be overwhelming at times. ASAC is an excellent option that not only accompanies, but also allows us to find the solution to daily problems by developing in our clients internal management skills and competitive advantages based on knowledge and the use of technology, optimizing the time dedicated to their activities. ASAC advises people who work from home, allowing them to develop strategies that will allow them to reduce costs, achieving the expected profitability, improving processes and results, preparing entrepreneurs to be owners of their time and not an employee of their own company; will help them to rediscover the dreams that led them to start and open their own business. / Trabajo de investigación

There are a number of factors which contribute to the economic conditions described in the preceding paragraphs. Among these are: much waste land, soil erosion, large numbers of tenant farmers with inadequate diet, lack of scientific method, no modern equipment, low income, lack of pure-bred stock, low purchasing power, uncooperative spirit, fear of venturing out into new areas of activities, unwillingness to give up old ideas and methods. Such a situation as the one described in the preceding pages created a crying need for professional help which has been sought from every available source. A truly effective small school must be standardized around such educational essentials as: (1) a teacher with specialized preparation and willingness to make rural community teaching her permanent occupation, (2) a school plant equipped to provide an education related to rural life and its needs, (3) a course of instruction and methods of teaching in accordance with the needs and nature of agricultural people. / Typescript. / "May, 1949." / "Submitted to the graduate council of Florida State University in partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree Master of Arts plan II." / Advisor: R. L. Eyman, Directing professor. / Includes bibliographical references.