The purpose of this study was to explore what keeps nurses in nursing by examining the impact of the relational experiences between the nurse and her or his patient in the context of the nursing situation. Heideggerian hermeneutic phenomenology grounded the study and was the method used to interpret the registered nurse participants' meaning of their everydayness. The nurses' first hand perspectives elicited implications for nursing practice. This qualitative research study examined what keeps nurses in nursing. The eight registered nurse participants provided rich descriptive data from which four relational themes emerged: Practicing from Inner Core Beliefs, Understanding the Other from Within, Making a Difference, and Nursing as an Evolving Process. The hermeneutical interpretative process guided the researcher to synthesize the themes into a constitutive pattern of meaning which the researcher named Intentional Compassion Energy. In intentional caring consciousness, the nurse intentionally knows the nursed as whole. Compassion energy is the intersubjective gift of compassion that gives nurses the opportunity to be with the nursed. Compassion energy is composed of compassionate presence, patterned nurturance and intentionally knowing the nursed and self as whole. Thus, intentional compassion energy is defined as the regeneration of nurses' capacity to foster interconnectedness when the nurse activates the intent to nurse. Intentional compassion energy was discovered in the meaning of the nurse participants being in their everydayness of practice. The participants described the intention to care compassionately as the grounding of their practice, striving to understand the other, to make a difference while living their nursing as an evolving process. Hermeneutic phenomenology provided the opening to discover what keeps nurses in nursing. / by Dorothy J. Dunn. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2009. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2009. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

With background to recent price growth in Swedish real estate and consequently real estate stocks, our aim is to examine the relationship between real estate price development and real estate stock price development. To test our hypothesis, that real estate price development have had an impact on the return of real estate stocks, we built a capital asset pricing model. We divide the return of real estate stocks into two parts, the return in relation to the Swedish market premium and the excess return that is given for the exposure of the real estate market. We found that real estate exposure would treat the investor with an additional return beyond the return given from stock market exposure; hence, real estate price development has contributed to real estate stock returns.

Application of multisource feedback (MSF) increased dramatically and became widespread globally in the past two decades, but there was little conceptual work regarding self-other agreement and few empirical studies investigated self-other agreement in other cultural settings. This study developed a new conceptual framework of self-other agreement and used three samples to illustrate how national culture affected self-other agreement. These three samples included 428 participants from China, 818 participants from the US, and 871 participants from globally dispersed teams (GDTs). An EQS procedure and a polynomial regression procedure were used to examine whether the covariance matrices were equal across samples and whether the relationships between self-other agreement and performance would be different across cultures, respectively. The results indicated MSF could be applied to China and GDTs, but the pattern of relationships between self-other agreement and performance was different across samples, suggesting that the results found in the U.S. sample were the exception rather than rule. Demographics also affected self-other agreement disparately across perspectives and cultures, indicating self-concept was susceptible to cultural influences. The proposed framework only received partial support but showed great promise to guide future studies. This study contributed to the literature by: (a) developing a new framework of self-other agreement that could be used to study various contextual factors; (b) examining the relationship between self-other agreement and performance in three vastly different samples; (c) providing some important insights about consensus between raters and self-other agreement; (d) offering some practical guidelines regarding how to apply MSF to other cultures more effectively.

nÃo hà / Este estudo visou desenvolver mecanismos capazes de classificar um indivÃduo em usuÃrio ou nÃo usuÃrio de microcrÃdito a partir da determinaÃÃo dos fatores que influenciam a sua decisÃo por este tipo de microfinanciamento, ou em se tratando de usuÃrio, identificar preventivamente a sua potencialidade de deixar de ser usuÃrio deste tipo de microemprÃstimo, podendo ser aplicados, complementarmente, em momentos distintos. Na prÃtica, se percebe que a decisÃo do tomador potencial por microcrÃdito rompe as suas caracterÃsticas pessoais. Empiricamente, este empreendedor faz uma anÃlise das condiÃÃes do seu microempreendimento e da viabilidade do atendimento das suas necessidades empresariais frente Ãs condiÃÃes dos ofertantes de microcrÃdito. Nessa perspectiva, buscando atender a trÃplice condiÃÃo para o tomador ser usuÃrio de microcrÃdito a investigaÃÃo convergiu para trÃs modelos logÃsticos especÃficos. Os modelos 1 e 2, sob o mÃtodo de regressÃo logÃstica multinomial buscaram determinar os fatores determinantes na decisÃo do tomador em ser usuÃrio de microcrÃdito dadas as suas caracterÃsticas pessoais e dadas Ãs condiÃÃes do micronegÃcio, respectivamente. O modelo 3, usando a regressÃo logÃstica binÃria, objetivou estimar a probabilidade de o tomador deixar de ser usuÃrio de microcrÃdito dada Ãs condiÃÃes da oferta e do micronegÃcio. O uso de trÃs modelos em processos diferentes justificou-se pela pretensÃo de formular modelos simples e de fÃcil aplicaÃÃo prÃtica. Os resultados auferidos concluÃram que os proprietÃrios de micronegÃcios com atitude para resultado e perfil empreendedor buscam expandir seu negÃcio e và no microcrÃdito um instrumento para este fim. Este trabalho irà contribuir no despertar para a necessidade de revisÃo de conceitos enraizados na forma de fazer microcrÃdito e estimular à inserÃÃo no papel do microcrÃdito de uma funÃÃo de transitoriedade que favoreÃa o desenvolvimento empresarial do micronegÃcio. / This study sought to develop mechanisms capable of classifying an individual as user or nonuser of microfinance starting from the determination of the factors that influence a decision for a given type of microfinance, and in the case of microfinance users, to preventively identify the potential for attrition, with full applicability at any moment in time. In practice, it is noteworthy that that the decisions of a potential microcredit user stem from his or her broader personal characteristics. Empirically, the entrepreneur generates an analysis of the conditions of his or her microenterprise and the viability of meeting his or her business requirements and links this back to the terms of the microfinance service. From this perspective, hoping to simulate the conditionality behind becoming or remaining a microcredit user, this study generated three specific logistical models. Models 1 and 2, based on multinomial regression, sought to identify the decisive factors for an individual to be a microcredit user, based on his or her personal characteristics and the characteristics of the microbusiness, respectively. Model 3, based on binary regression, attempted to estimate the probability of the individual to desist using microfinance services, based on the terms of the microfinance as well as the characteristics of the microbusiness. The use of three models in different processes was justified as the pretense of formulating simple models and of easy practical application. The results concluded that entrepreneurial results-oriented microbusiness proprietors look to expand their businesses and view microcredit as an instrument for this goal. This work will contribute to the awakening of a new examination of the conceptual roots of how microcredit is structured and to shift the role of microcredit towards a function for improving the administration of micro businesses.

Thesis (MTech (Public Management))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2018. / Organisations spend large sums of money on staff after they have been recruited in order to make them proficient in their jobs. It is therefore important to ensure that staff remain with the organisation for as long as possible, allowing the organisation to reap the benefit from its investment in the form of good performance by staff. Work performance can however, be affected negatively when labour turnover is high. This research project reflects on staff turnover amongst professional nurses, posing the question, “What can be done to alleviate high staff turnover?” A quantitative approach to research was followed within a Western Cape Metropolitan Municipality. The significance of the research is reflected in the recommendations made to the management of the municipality to address staff turnover in the specified category of employees.

Oil and natural gas are the most strategic raw materials to meet the expanding energy requirement in today&rsquo / s world. They have great impact on issues such as economy, national security, development, competition, and political consistency. Being a developing country, Turkey&rsquo / s natural gas requirement is increasing rapidly. However, the production is far from covering the demand. Recent assumptions point out that natural gas demand of Turkey will reach 44 billion cubic meters in 2010 with a financial burden of 10 billion $ to the national economy. Therefore Turkey requires meeting natural gas demand by using its own conventional natural gas resources. The geological researches and global data encourage Turkey to drill more exploration wells in offshore side of Western Black Sea .In early 2007, the production will be started in Western Black Sea Region with 1.42 million cubic meter gas per day. Moreover, further exploration and production activities in the region are still continuing in order to increase the production. In this thesis, issues such as importance of the natural gas for Turkey and the world, Turkey&rsquo / s present energy situation and natural gas supply and demand scenarios for Turkey have been investigated. The possible impact of natural gas exploration and production in Black Sea region on Turkey&rsquo / s economy in near future has been emphasized. An extensive literature survey using related printed and unprinted media has been performed in order to collect the necessary data and information.

Labor mobility in the rural area of Mainland China plays recently an important role in its economic development process. And this enormous and inexpensive labor attracts foreign investments, including Taiwanese investment, to enter Mainland China¡¦s market, and, further, drives economic development of Asia-Pacific Region. However, from the viewpoint of Rural-Urban Dualism theory, on the social level, rural labors can not take part in political life, and preserve their rights. Thus, they become ¡§Silent Class¡¨ in the Chinese urban society. On the economic level, serious public security problems derivative from labor disputes and conflicts, and it attracts highly concerns of Central of Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and issues ¡§Constructing Harmonious Community and Well-Off Society¡¨; and on the social level, continued expanding poverty gap, social rejection, and prejudice cause deep impact on those labors. This studying focus on the changing steps of supply and demand of rural labor, in order to discuss the developmental trend of transferring process of rural labor form past to present, even to the future. Therefore, this essay concentrates on the changing mobility of rural labor in some aspects, for example regions, identifications, careers, and life forms, and political, social economic, cultural, policy/urbanization, and market/occupation connections between rural and urban area. The Result of studying is, Central of CCP has 3 ways to solve problems beneath the surface of rural labor and urbanization: 1. Accelerating transferring process of rural surplus labor with economic development strategy; 2. Upgrading skill standard of rural labor, to guarantee employment; 3. Promoting and enlarging domestic consume, to constrain inflation. At the same time, the capability of labor unions should be reinforced and the organized degree of rural labor should be improved. Hoping that, they are able to play a more active role to protect rights of rural labors.

Firms face a big challenge in matching the supply of perishable goods with uncertain demand in real time. In practice, the traditional supply chain models are proved not efficiently enough to lower firms' risk exposure. The purpose of the dissertation is to provide the theoretical framework of roles of several stylized markets in firms' risk management. In particular, we explore the influence of the spot business-to-business exchange market, forward contract market and credit-default swap market respectively. The dissertation is divided into the following three chapters. In chapter 1, we show that when the exchange market lacks perfect liquidity, a firm's capital structure has a greater influence on its output-level decisions, then the market is perfectly liquid. The impact may be even greater than that without an exchange market. This is primarily because the introduction of the exchange market causes firms to act strategically in absence of perfect liquidity. In chapter 2, we study the essential relationship between producers' forward contracts and their supply strategies in business-to-business exchange market. Specifically, we focus on the application of the electricity power exchange market in the US. Our model reveals that the strategic incentive makes producers to join in forward contract market voluntarily and increases social welfare. We show in chapter 1 that even when firms' risks are independent of each other, there is a chance that the realization of market uncertainty turns out to be the same. As a result, there is no exchange market as a platform to help firms hedge their risks. Therefore, we need other instruments in firms' risk management portfolio. In chapter 3, we propose a financial market, credit-default swap market, in which firm s can temporarily transfer default risks to outside investors. However, the "lemon" problem may cause social cost.

published_or_final_version / Public Administration / Master / Master of Social Sciences

Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the Masters Degree in Technology, (Tourism Management) in the Department of Hospitality and Tourism, Durban University of Technology, 2009. / There is a growing demand for professionally educated and trained staff in the tourism sector. However, current literature reveals a significant disparity between the tourism education provided by institutions and the skills required by the industry. A major challenge facing tourism education institutions is the identification of industry needs and requirements and the involvement of industry in curriculum design. The aim of this research is to examine the education, skills and training required of tourism employees and whether the provisions of higher education tourism courses are adequately meeting industry needs. Identifying this „gap‟ will assist in improving the development of tourism education programmes to meet the needs of industry. The research examines the relevance of the tourisms qualification from three stakeholders‟ perspectives, namely, managers from the tourism sector, tourism graduate employees, and tourism academics. Surveys, in the form of structured questionnaires, were used to obtain information from the three groups. The overall findings of the study revealed that gaps do exist in the tourism curriculum according to the perceptions of stakeholder groups that participated in this study. The recommendations are that closer collaboration is required between academics, managers from the industry when designing tourism curriculum and also to sustain the relevance of the curriculum to meet the needs of industry.