In the nonprofit industry, lapses in internal controls and low levels of accountability have resulted in many organizations becoming insolvent. Grounded in the agency theory, the purpose of this correlational study was to examine the relationship between federal compliance requirement, executive compensation, nonprofit size, nonprofit type, and internal control infraction. Archival data were collected from 144 nonprofit organizations in the southeast United States. The results of the multiple regression analyses indicated the model was able to predict the relationship between federal compliance requirement, executive compensation, nonprofit size, nonprofit type, and internal control infraction, F(7, 136) = 6.559, p < .001, R2 = .252, with non-profit type (hospitals), (β = -9.392, t = 7.191, p <0.050), accounting for a higher contribution to the model than executive compensation, (β = -0.049, t = 1.96, p <0.050). Federal compliance requirement and nonprofit size did not explain any significant variation in internal control infraction. The implications for positive social change included the potential for a better understanding by nonprofit managers of the importance of internal controls, leading to the effective and efficient provision of goods and services needed by members of society.

[pt] O ambiente corporativo tornou-se multigeracional e o entendimento do perfil de cada geração passou a ser primordial para as empresas. As experiências vivenciadas por cada uma das gerações influenciam a forma como estas encaram o papel do trabalho em suas vidas e nas suas expectativas de carreira. A transformação pela qual vem passando o ambiente de trabalho, através de novas formas de comunicação, relacionamento, realização de negócios e gestão de pessoas, vem sendo potencializada pela inserção de um grande contingente de jovens pertencentes à geração Y. De acordo com a literatura que caracteriza a geração Y, estes jovens possuem aspirações e interesses particulares em relação ao trabalho. Todavia, ainda não existem muitos estudos que exploram as expectativas desses jovens em relação à carreira. Desta forma, o propósito deste trabalho foi analisar as expectativas de carreira destes jovens entrantes no mercado de trabalho, a denominada geração Y ou geração milênio. Para tanto, foi realizada uma pesquisa qualitativa, baseada em entrevistas semiestruturadas com jovens entre 21 e 30 anos de idade, que possuem formação superior completa e com pelo menos um ano de experiência profissional no mundo corporativo, sendo que esta experiência profissional não inclui o período de estágio. O objetivo das entrevistas foi identificar as expectativas de carreira da geração Y. Os conteúdos das entrevistas foram categorizados e analisados segundo o referencial teórico de carreiras e sobre as características do perfil da geração Y. O resultado da análise sugere que estão presentes, nas expectativas dos jovens dessa geração, elementos tanto das carreiras tradicionais quanto das novas configurações de carreira. / [en] The corporate environment has become multigenerational and understanding each generation has become essential for companies. The experiences of each generation influence how they deal with the role of work in their lives and with their career expectations. The transformation that comes through the workplace, through new forms of communication, relationships, business operations and personnel management has been enhanced by the inclusion of a large contingent of young people from Y Generation into the labor market. According to the literature that characterizes the Y Generation, these young people have aspirations and interests about their jobs. However there aren’t many studies that explore the expectations of young people concerning their careers. Thus, this research analyzed the career expectations of young entrants into the labor market, the so-called Y Generation or Millennial Generation. For this purpose, a qualitative study was developed, based on semi-structured interviews with young people between 21 and 30 years old, who have completed graduation and have worked for at least one year in the corporate world, not including internships. The interviews aim was to identify the career expectations of Y Generation. The interview’s contents were categorized and analyzed according to theoretical background and on the career profile and characteristics of Y Generation. As a result, the analysis suggests that elements of both traditional and new career settings characterize the expectations of the younger generation.

[pt] O presente estudo visa identificar e analisar de que forma o desenvolvimento de competências em escolas técnicas corresponde às necessidades e aos anseios do mercado de trabalho. Em colaboração com o Programa Prioridade-Rio – Apoio ao estudo de temas prioritários para o Governo do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, fomento da Fundação Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro – FAPERJ, o estudo aponta possíveis ações com vistas ao alinhamento das expectativas do mercado de trabalho com a capacitação profissionalizante. De caráter essencialmente qualitativo, a metodologia constituiu-se de pesquisas de campo, entre outubro de 2010 a junho de 2011, através de entrevistas transcritas e analisadas e material bibliográfico teórico. Foram entrevistados 14 profissionais de escolas técnicas de diferentes localidades do município do Estado do Rio de Janeiro que apresentaram suas respectivas percepções. Além disso, foram realizadas entrevistas com quatro líderes de equipe de profissionais, capacitados em instituições de ensino técnico, que relataram suas expectativas e dificuldades no desenvolvimento de novos profissionais diante das demandas apresentadas, e três profissionais da área de recursos humanos que expuseram as dificuldades de atração e retenção desses profissionais. Foram identificadas lacunas na formação de competências teóricas e práticas requeridas pelo mercado de trabalho demonstrando desalinhamento e distância teórica e prática entre mercado e as instituições de ensino. Foram geradas proposições que sugerem possíveis ações para a construção de conhecimento, competências e capacitação dos profissionais, contribuindo, assim, para a melhoria da grade curricular das Instituições de ensino técnico do Rio de Janeiro. / [en] The present study aims to identify and analyze how the development of technical skills in schools meets the needs and desires of the labor market. In collaboration with the Priority-Rio - support the study of priorities for the Government of the State of Rio de Janeiro, encouraging Carlos Chagas Filho Foundation for Research Support of the State of Rio de Janeiro - FAPERJ, the study suggests possible actions with view to aligning the expectations of the labor market with technical training and vocational training. Essentially qualitative in nature, the research methodology consisted of field research from October 2010 to June 2011, through interviews, transcribed and analyzed, as well as theoretical reference material. We interviewed 14 professional technical schools of different locations in the county in the state of Rio de Janeiro showed that their perceptions, making it possible to determine the facilitating factors and are essential to identifying gaps in skills required by the labor market. In addition, interviews were conducted with 04 leaders of professional team, trained in technical training schools, who reported their expectations and difficulties in developing new professional face of the demands made on the day to day business, and 03 resource professionals humans exposed to the difficulties of attracting and retaining these professionals. The results presented in this study generated a series of propositions that suggest possible actions to build knowledge, skills and training of professionals, thus contributing to improving the curriculum of technical training schools in Rio de Janeiro.

Almonds are one of the first commercial nut trees to bloom in early spring and thus are susceptible to temperature patterns prior to and during bloom which affect bloom timing, bloom length, pollination and nut set. Data used in this project include yearly dates of 90% bloom from 1996-2006, bloom length in days and final crop yields in pounds per tree for Nonpareil and Mission varieties. Data were collected from the University of California Cooperative Extension reports on the 1993-2006 Regional Almond Variety Trials in Butte, San Joaquin and Kern Counties. Temperature pattern models in the form of Chill Hours (Chill Hour Model), Chill Units (Chill Unit Model), Chill Portions (Chill Portion Model) and Growing Degree Hours (GDH°) (Heat Model) prior to bloom were used to predict the date of 90% bloom for each variety, site and year. Temperature model results were compared to averaged actual dates of 90% bloom by site and variety used to predict bloom timing (Calendar Model). The relationship between bloom length in days and GDH° during bloom and the relationship between bloom length, GDH° during bloom and final crop yields were also evaluated. The average error in predicting the 90% bloom date for both Nonpareil and Mission was smaller using the Calendar Model compared to the four temperature pattern models. The Chill Portion model did not have significantly higher average error in predicting the date of 90% bloom than the Calendar model in Nonpareil. The Chill Unit and Chill Portion models had smaller errors in predicting 90% bloom date than the Chill Hour or GDH° model in Mission. GDH° during bloom was positively correlated with bloom length. GDH° during the first four days of Nonpareil bloom was significantly correlated with crop yields, with each additional GDH° during bloom correlated with a 0.4 lbs./tree increase in crop yield. Further research is needed on specific temperature thresholds and their relationship to physiological changes during almond bloom and pollination. The practice of monitoring chilling and heat accumulation will allow growers to anticipate bloom, prepare to optimize bee activity during bloom, and plan for possible crop yield variations due to adverse weather conditions during bloom in almonds.

Thesis (M.Sc. Agric (Soil Science)) -- University of Limpopo, 2013 / Knowledge and management of soil pH, particularly soil acidity across spatially variable soils is important, although this is greatly ignored by farmers in the Limpopo Province of South Africa. The significance of understanding spatial variability of soil acidity is the implementation of best and site-specific management strategies because when soil acidity is poorly managed, toxicity and nutrient deficiency problems in the soil are inevitable. The objective of the study was to evaluate in-field spatial variability of soil pH, and compare the efficiency of managing soil pH through site-specific method vs. uniform lime application. The study was conducted in 3 site years (23o50’ S; 29 o40’ E and 23o59’ S and 28o52’ E) with site year I, and II adjacent to each other in the semi-arid regions of the Limpopo Province, South Africa. Soil samples were taken in four replicates within a 1 m radius from geo-referenced locations in 3 study sites to sampling depths of 0-20 cm on a regular grid of 30m using differential Global Positioning System (DGPS). Soils were analyzed for pH, and SMP buffer pH for lime recommendations. Lime requirement to achieve a soil pH of 6.5 for a 20 cm plough layer per hectare was calculated using CalciumCarbonateequivalent, efficiency factor (fineness factor), and neutralizing index of the liming materials. The spatial maps for SMP buffer pH and lime requirement maps were produced with surfer version 8.0 (Surfer Version 8, Golden Software, Golden, CO). The soil pH datasets from systematic unaligned randomly sampled soils on a 30-m grid were interpolated using inverse distance weighing (IDW) in Surfer software version 8.0 (Surfer Version 8, Golden Software, Golden, CO). Soil pH varied from strongly acidic to slightly acidic with minimum values of 4.22, 3.93, and 4.74 and maximum values of 6.11, 7.00, and 6.82 in site I, II, and II respectively. In Site I, II, and III, the areas of the field that had soil pH values of less than 6.0 were 99.43, 82.61, and 62.89% of the field. When lime was recommended for application using a conventional method of uniform lime application based on an average value derived from samples collected in the whole field, the results of the study showed a waste of lime in excess of lime recommended for individual grids. An excess amount of lime as high as 10, 30, and 7 tons/ha recommended on sites I, II and III respectively under uniform application. These recommendations were in excess on field areas that needed little or no lime applications. Again, the fields showed under applications of lime as much as 30, 35, and 13 tons/ha in site I, II, and III respectively for uniform liming applications. This under- and over recommendations of lime based on average soil pH values suggests that uniform soil acidity management strategy is not an appropriate strategy to be adopted in these fields. Again, in both of these sites as shown in the maps, the areas that required high amount of lime and those that require little or no lime are clearly defined, such that the fields can be divided into lime application zones. When a field is divided into lime application zones, management of soil acidity becomes easier because instead of applying variable rates of lime for every grid, lime rates are applied per zone. These zones could be areas in a field that require, (i) high rates of lime, (ii) low rates of lime, and (iii) areas that requires no lime at all. Agricultural fields that exhibit spatial variability of soil acidity must not be managed or treated as uniform when lime is applied in the field. Keywords: Lime requirement, Site specific management and Soil pH.

During the years of World War II the faculties of the public schools in Utah, as well as in the rest of the nation, were depleted to a serious extent, and enrollment in teacher training institutions throughout the country decreased. Because of this condition the State Department of Education in Utah as well as in other states was forced to issue letters of authorization to teachers who could not meet standard certification requirements in order to staff the schools. Many of these teachers are still teaching today. The purpose of this study is to obtain information regarding the supply of and demand for elementary teachers in the state of Utah for the period 1946-1949, and to predict the demand for teachers to 1955-56. an attempt will be made to answer the following questions: Did the state gain ground by having an increased percentage of qualified teachers during the three year period (1946-1949) assuming that the number of teaching positions remaind the same? If gains were made, how long will it take to equalize the situation? Assuming present practices will not equalize supply and demand by 1956, how much of an increase in supply will be needed by 1956? From evidences that we have on changing demand from increased population, increased educational services, e.g. kindergarten and decrease in class size, how much of an increase in suppy will be needed by 1956? Only the supply of and demand for teachers of the elementary school will be dealt with in this study. The supply of and demand for secondary teachers is treated in another study that is being done in conjuction with this one.

The effect of added iron on the growth of Clostridium botulinum type A in a chemically defined medium was studied. Growth of C. botulinum was supported by an iron level of 0.05 ug/ml with maximum growth observed at a level of 3 ug iron/ml. Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) studies were conducted to detect the presence of iron-sulfur centers and iron-nitric oxide complexes in untreated and nitrite treated cell-free extracts of C. botulinum type A. Untreated extracts of C. botulinum exhibited EPR signals in the oxidized and reduced states characteristic of a "HiPiP-type" iron-sulfur center (g=2.02) in the oxidized state and a reduced signal at g=l.94, characteristic of a reduced iron-sulfur center. Extracts of C. botulinum treated with nitrite exhibited an EPR signal at g=2.035, characteristic of iron-nitrosyl complexes, with the simultaneous disappearance of the the signal at g=l.94. This indicates that nitrite reacts with the iron-sulfur centers in botulinal cells to form iron-nitrosyl complexes. Addition of ascorbate with nitrite intensified the EPR signal at g=2.035, probably by enhancing the reduction of nitrite to nitric oxide. A cytochrome c reduction method was used for the determination of ferredoxin activity in untreated and nitrite treated cells of C. botulinum type A from which ferredoxin had been partially purified. Untreated extracts of C. botulinum reduced cytochrome c which demonstrates ferredoxin activity within the cells. Treatment of the cells with nitrite at a level of 1000 ppm for 45 min was found to inhibit ferredoxin activity by 90%. Boiling the partially purified ferredoxin from the untreated cells for 5 min inactivated the protein. Pyruvate-ferredoxin oxidoreductase activity in partially purified extracts of nitrite treated and untreated cells of C. botulinum was determined by assaying for FAD reduction and acylhydroxamate formation. Nitrite treated cells exhibited an inhibition of 70% of FAD reducing activity and 80% inhibition of acylhydroxamate formation when compared to the untreated cells. Boiling inhibited the activity of partially purified oxidoreductase activity by more than 90% in both the assays.

In contemporary software development, an emergent understanding of the problem domain and envisioned goals forms the basis of designing, testing and development activities. Lack of a common understanding of the domain can result in costly rework or client dissatisfaction. Research shows that the development of shared understanding in this context is a complex and error-prone process and there is room for improvement. Is this because practitioners are not following suggested practice from literature? Or are the actual barriers to shared understanding not being addressed by current tools and techniques? Is the development of shared domain understanding even viewed as problematic (or even important) by practitioners? These are some questions that need to be investigated in order to effectively design process improvements and tool support in this area, yet there is little information related to this. This study takes a multi-case study approach, which incorporate semi-structured interviews with representative from ten small-to-medium organisations. This study focuses on the vendor’s perspective and includes a mix of application domains. Result of the interviews is analysed to discover themes and patterns related to an analysis framework constructed from the literature review. The findings indicate that vendors perceive the process of developing shared application-domain understanding with their clients as being both problematic and important to a successful implementation. Twelve barriers have been identified from the analysis. The results also confirm that the process of sharing understanding development is generally perceived as being evolutionary and collaborative. This process is described by most interviewees comprises iterative phases of elicitation, confirmation and refinement of the understanding. A definite preference for face-to-face interaction is evident at regular times throughout development, particularly in early stages, although the importance of ad-hoc communications by phone or email, as domain knowledge needs arise, is also emphasised. Access to cooperative domain-expert throughout development is generally seen as a critical success factor. Several companies report using in-house domain-expert as client “proxies” in this regard. There is a mix of attitudes apparent regarding the direct communications of developers with client stakeholders. This ranged from insisting that developers are involved from initial elicitation and “kick-off” meetings, to “shielding” developers almost entirely from client. In terms of representations of understanding, participants relate natural-language, screen-shots, mock-ups, prototypes and product-demonstrations as the most useful artefacts for sharing and confirming understanding of the problem domain. They emphasise the importance of flexibility and client familiarity with the representations. In general, there is no clear separation between problem and solution spaces evident when the interviewees discussed representations of understanding, and the preference seems to be for concrete rather than abstract representations. In conclusion, comparisons between the findings and literature generally confirm contemporary thinking regarding domain knowledge sharing, although a number of barriers were given particular emphasis in this field study. The use of computer-based tool support is not widespread and the need to improve the domain knowledge sharing process and tool support in practice is widely acknowledged by the participants in this investigation. This study has identified some fruitful areas of research in this regard.

<p>The quality of software systems depends on early activities in the software development process, of which the management of requirements is one. When requirements are not managed well, a project can fail or become more costly than intended, and the quality of the software developed can decrease. Among the requirements management practices, it is particularly important to quantify and predict requirements volatility, i.e., how much the requirements are likely to change over time. Software measures can help in quantifying and predicting requirements attributes like volatility. However, few measures have yet been defined, due to the fact that the early phases are hard to formalise. Furthermore, very few requirements measures have been validated, which would be needed in order to demonstrate that they are useful. The approach to requirements management in this thesis is quantitative, i.e. to monitor the requirements management activities and requirements volatility through software measurement. In this thesis, a set of 45 requirements management measures is presented. The measures were defined using the goal question metrics framework for the two predefined goals of the requirements management key process area of the capability maturity model for software. A subset of these measures was validated theoretically and empirically in four case studies. Furthermore, an analysis of validated measures in the literature was performed, showing that there is a lack of validated process, project, and requirements measures in software engineering. The studies presented in this thesis show that size measures are good estimators of requirements volatility. The important result is that size is relevant: increasing the size of a requirements document implies that the number of changes to requirements increases as well. Furthermore, subjective estimations of volatility were found to be inaccurate assessors of requirements volatility. These results suggest that practitioners should complement the subjective estimations for assessing volatility with the objective ones. Requirements engineers and project managers will benefit from the research presented in this thesis because the measures defined, proved to be predictors of volatility, can help in understanding how much requirements will change. By deploying the measures, the practitioners would be prepared for possible changes in the schedule and cost of a project, giving them the possibility of creating alternative plans, new cost estimates, and new software development schedules.</p>

<p>Titel: Revisorers arbetsuppgifter – En kvantitativ studie om revisorers arbetsuppgifters förväntade utveckling efter avskaffandet av revisionsplikten med paralleller dragna till Tyskland Författare: Bohman, Kaisa (Mälardalens högskola) Gunstad, Anna-Karin (Mälardalens högskola) Handledare: Riitta Lehtisalo Seminariedatum: 2010-06-04 Institution: Akademin för hållbar samhälls- och teknikutveckling Kurs: Kandidatuppsats i företagsekonomi, 15 hp Examinator: Cecilia Lindh Nyckelord: Revisionsplikt, revisor, revision, arbetsuppgifter, Tyskland Bakgrund: Den 1 november 2010 träder en ny lag i kraft som avser avskaffandet av revisionsplikten i Sverige för små aktiebolag. När ramverket runt revisorerna förändras måste de anpassa sig för att bli så effektiva och verksamma som möjligt. Tyskland har i dagsläget ett system där mindre aktiebolag inte behöver revidera sina räkenskaper. Sverige och Tyskland har sina rötter i kontinental redovisningstradition vilket bidrar till att Tyskland kan anses vara ett föregångsland till Sverige. Syfte: Syftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka hur revisorer tror att deras arbetsuppgifter förändras efter avskaffandet av revisionsplikten. Syftet är även att dra paralleller till den tyska utvecklingen av arbetsuppgifter för revisorer för att undersöka om det kan ge en bild av den kommande svenska utvecklingen. Vi kommer även i studien identifiera intressenter som kommer att påverka denna förväntade framtida utveckling. Metod: Studien är av kvalitativ karaktär där intervjuer med revisorer har genomförts för att få en ökad förståelse för problemet. Studien genomfördes genom intervjuer i både Sverige och Tyskland. Slutsatser: Slutsatser vi kan dra är att de svenska revisorerna tror att deras arbetsuppgifter kommer att utvecklas i riktning mot rådgivning, konsultation och punktinsatser. De svenska revisorerna tror att intressenter såsom kreditgivare, leverantörer, företag och Skatteverket, kommer att påverka hur deras framtida arbetsuppgifter kommer att se ut.</p> / <p>Titel: Auditors tasks - A qualitative study on auditor’s tasks expected development after the abolition of the audit requirement with parallels drawn to Germany Authors: Kaisa Bohman Anna-Karin Gunstad Advisor: Riitta Lehtisalo Seminar date: 2010-06-04 Institution: School of Sustainable Development of Society and Technology Course: Bachelor Thesis, 15 hp Examiner: Cecilia Lindh Keywords: Audit requirement, review, auditor, tasks, Germany The main issues: 1 November 2010 a new law in force relating to the abolition of the audit requirement in Sweden. The Swedish companies, can after this date, freely choose whether they want to audit or not. When the framework around the auditors change, they must change to adapt to the new ground rules to ensure that they stay as efficient and as effective as possible. Germany has in the current situation a system where smaller companies do not have to revise their accounts; it takes place entirely on a voluntary basis. Sweden and Germany has its roots in continental accounting tradition, whereas Germany can be regarded as a leading country of Sweden. Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine how auditors believe that their tasks will change after the abolition of the audit requirement. The aim is also to draw parallels with the German development of the tasks of auditors to examine whether it can provide a picture of the future Swedish development. We will identify stakeholders who are likely to influence the development of auditors' work. Method: The study is qualitative in nature in which interviews with auditors has been conducted to obtain a better understanding of the problem. This study was conducted through interviews in both Sweden and Germany. Conclusions: One conclusion we can draw is that the Swedish auditors believe that their work will evolve in the direction of advisory and consultancy services. Another conclusion we can draw is that the Swedish auditors believe that stakeholders such as creditors, suppliers, other businesses and the Treasury, will influence their future task.</p>