This research is an investigation of the relationship between employees 'happiness' and the financial performance of a financial services organisation in South Africa. As a component of the financial services industry the banking sector contributes greatly to the economic growth of the country. The South African Banking sector is concentrated and highly competitive. It is vital for banks to maintain competitiveness and ever increasing global competition adds further pressure on organisations to financially perform so as to meet the demands of their shareholders. The literature that has been reviewed and previous research suggest that employee 'happiness' is a vital variable influencing the performance and success of individuals. Organisational performance will be measured in terms of financial performance for the purposes of this research. The concept of financial performance and 'happiness' are discussed and a questionnaire based on the Satisfaction With Life Scale (Diener et al,1985) is used to determine the levels of 'happiness' at selected branches within the institution. The individual branches financial performance is determined via calculating selected ratios, namely cumulative leverage, cost to income ratio and net yield. An analysis of correlation was conducted to establish whether or not a relationship of statistical significance exists between employee 'happiness' and financial performance. It was concluded that there is no relationship of statistical significance between employee 'happiness' and the financial performance of branches within the organisation, it was suggested that other factors exert a much greater influence over financial performance. Some of these factors influencing financial performance are discussed and recommendations for further research are made.

Every third year a PISA study is conducted, through international measurements for member states of the OECD-organization. This aims to measure each country´s pupils by the ages of 15 years old. Its purpose is to examine how each member´s pupils perform in mathematics, reading comprehensions, sciences and problem solving. In this essay we intend to examine how the PISA studies were received as a creation of opinion and self-image.  This research follows up on selected actors in the media debate surrounding PISA as a tool of argument and means of discussion. The natural demarcation is made by actors; mostly from professional teachers, but also journalists, lectures, writers and school experts in the fields. Its purpose is to give a well-balanced and comprehensive picture of the PISA-debates. From a political standpoint the actors represent different positions of the spectrum. The study consists of a total of 10 actors. Between the years of 2004-2005 and 2016-2017 of the PISA 2003 and 2015. This paper will focus on the PISA studies that were done by the years of 2003 and 2015. By working with different PISA studies with a long span of time between them. This is done as a conscious strategy in favor of the comparative study. In this essay the conceptual changes between these two PISA studies will be examined and studied with a conceptual analysis.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / The number of smart mobile devices has grown at a significant rate in recent years. This growth has resulted in an exponential number of publicly available mobile Apps. To help the selection of suitable Apps, from various offered choices, the App distribution platforms generally rank/recommend Apps based on average star ratings, the number of installs, and associated reviews ― all the external factors of an App. However, these ranking schemes typically tend to ignore critical internal factors (e.g., bugs, security vulnerabilities, and data leaks) of the Apps. The AppStores need to incorporate a holistic methodology that includes internal and external factors to assign a level of trust to Apps. The inclusion of the internal factors will describe associated potential security risks. This issue is even more crucial with newly available Apps, for which either user reviews are sparse, or the number of installs is still insignificant. In such a scenario, users may fail to estimate the potential risks associated with installing Apps that exist in an AppStore. This dissertation proposes a security-related and evidence-based ranking framework, called SERS (Security-related and Evidence-based Ranking Scheme) to compare similar Apps. The trust associated with an App is calculated using both internal and external factors (i.e., security flaws and user reviews) following an evidence-based approach and applying subjective logic principles. The SERS is formalized and further enhanced in the second part of this dissertation, resulting in its enhanced version, called as E-SERS (Enhanced SERS). These enhancements include an ability to integrate any number of sources that can generate evidence for an App and consider the temporal aspect and reputation of evidence sources. Both SERS and E-SERS are evaluated using publicly accessible Apps from the Google PlayStore and the rankings generated by them are compared with prevalent ranking techniques such as the average star ratings and the Google PlayStore Rankings. The experimental results indicate that E-SERS provides a comprehensive and holistic view of an App when compared with prevalent alternatives. E-SERS is also successful in identifying malicious Apps where other ranking schemes failed to address such vulnerabilities. In the third part of this dissertation, the E-SERS framework is used to propose a trust-aware composition model at two different granularities. This model uses the trust score computed by E-SERS, along with the probability of an App belonging to the malicious category, as the desired attributes for selecting a composition as the two granularities. Finally, the trust-aware composition model is evaluated with the average star rating parameter and the trust score. A holistic approach, as proposed by E-SERS, to computer a trust score will benefit all kinds of Apps including newly published Apps that follow proper security measures but initially struggle in the AppStore rankings due to a lack of a large number of reviews and ratings. Hence, E-SERS will be helpful both to the developers and users. In addition, the composition model that uses such a holistic trust score will enable system integrators to create trust-aware distributed systems for their specific needs.

No description available.

Nowadays education becomes a competitive and challenging domain, both na­tionally and internationally in terms of quality, visibility, experience of aca­demic delivery affecting institutions, applicants, regulatory bodies. Currently data becomes more available for the general and public use, and plays also an increasingly significant role in decision support for education topics. For example, world university rankings (WUR) such as Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), Central World University Rankings (CWUR), Times Higher Education (Times) and national university rankings (e.g. the Guardian newspaper Best UK Universities and the Complete University Guide league tables) have published their data for many years now and are increasingly used in such decision making processes by institutions and general public.

No description available.

Tesis por compendio / This thesis studies the models of mergers between higher education institutions, with a special focus on what we have called the post-merger stage. The current context in higher education raises various issues such as internationalization, globalization, rankings or the scarcity of resources, which contribute to the emergence of the idea of merging universities. Such mergers need to be analysed with rigour, whether they are initiated by higher education institutions themselves or by governments eager to restructure their country's higher education system. Although there are already some studies on university mergers, most of the authors focus on describing specific cases. There is no clear theory that could be widely used to conceptualize merger models, provide a guide for their implementation and help in the decision-making processes before, during and after the merger. This has led us to carry out a content analysis in order to determine first what are the type of mergers and what factors can determine their success or failure. In a second step the content analysis has allowed us to identify various strategies for mergers in higher education. Third, five case studies of university mergers involving European universities of the so-called "world-class" category has allowed us to focus on the analysis of the post-merger phase. The main thrust of the thesis is a comparative study of higher education mergers around three main research questions. The first question (RQ1) tries to determine what are the success factors of a merger. The second question (RQ2) is whether or not a generalized model of merger can be drawn up. The third question (RQ3) focusses on the post-merger stage. With these questions, we want to contribute to clarifying the issue of mergers in higher education, which in our opinion requires needs to be a dealt with in a different way than mergers and acquisitions in the private sector. To answer the first question (RQ1), we had to define more clearly the concept of what is a "successful merger". We started with the definitions given in the literature about mergers in higher education. In addition, we have identified a series of issues that arise in such mergers. These issues are based on the literature reviewed and on the case studies carried out for this thesis. The list of issues and our field work has allowed us to draw up a series of critical success factors for mergers. The second question (RQ2) is about the specific factors of the merger models presented in the literature. From this we wish to determine whether it is possible to generalize a main model for mergers in higher education. For this purpose, we studied each of the merger stages proposed in the three main models and contrasted them with the information gathered in the in-depth interviews for our case studies. The main contribution of this analysis has been the identification of a number of surrounding conditions that define a context in which a merger emerges as an adequate response to the situation. On this basis, we could define four stages (conceptual, pre-merger, merger and post-merger stage) that will eventually lead to a more stable situation. For each of these stages we have identified the milestones that mark the move from one stage to the next. In addition, we have linked the sequence of stages to our analysis of crucial success factors, challenges and post-merger strategies (RQ3). We are confident that with this thesis we show a number of relevant advances in the study of mergers in higher education; This may be of very useful data for the debate about academic and scientific developments, as well as for institutions and policy makers who have to analyze and/or address a merger process. / Esta tesis estudia los modelos de fusión de instituciones de educación superior, con un especial énfasis en lo que hemos denominado la etapa post-fusión. El contexto actual plantea diferentes temas como la internacionalización, la globalización, los rankings o la escasez de recursos que hace que en muchas ocasiones emerja la idea de una fusión universitaria. Este tipo de fusiones debe poder abordarse con solidez, tanto si se plantea desde las propias instituciones de educación superior como si son los gobiernos los que proponen este tipo de acciones para reestructurar el sistema de educación superior de un país. Aunque existen algunos estudios sobre fusiones universitarias, hemos observado que la mayoría se centran en describir casos concretos, pero no llega a establecerse una teoría que pueda, de manera general, conceptualizar los modelos de fusión, aportar una guía para su puesta en práctica y ayudar en los procesos de toma de decisión que pueden tener lugar antes, durante y después de una fusión. Esto nos ha llevado a la realización de un análisis de contenido para determinar en primer lugar cuáles son las tipologías de fusiones y qué factores pueden determinar su éxito o fracaso. Un segundo análisis de contenido, nos ha permitido desarrollar diferentes estrategias de fusiones en educación superior. Finalmente, el estudio de cinco casos de fusiones universitarias en el contexto europeo de instituciones denominadas de "clase mundial", nos ha permitido abordar con solidez el análisis de la fase post-fusión. El objetivo principal se plasma en el estudio comparativo de las fusiones de educación superior a través de tres preguntas de investigación. La primera pregunta (RQ1), trata de determinar cuáles son los factores de éxito de una fusión. La segunda pregunta (RQ2), aborda la cuestión de si se puede o no plantear un modelo generalizado de fusión. La tercera pregunta (RQ3), se cuestiona cómo debe abordarse la etapa post-fusión. Con ello clarificaremos la situación de las fusiones en educación superior, temática que consideramos requiere un tratamiento diferenciado frente a las fusiones y adquisiciones en el sector privado. Para responder a la primera pregunta (RQ1), hemos tenido que definir de una manera más clara el concepto de "fusión exitosa". Nos hemos basado en la definición que da la literatura sobre fusión. Además, hemos determinado una serie de temáticas que surgen en una fusión en base a la revisión de la literatura y de los casos que se han trabajado en esta tesis. La lista de temáticas junto con el trabajo realizado, nos ha llevado a poder definir una serie de factores críticos de éxito para que una fusión llegue a buen término. La segunda pregunta (RQ2) se basa en la especificidad de los modelos de fusión existentes en la literatura. Es por esto que se plantea si se puede generalizar un modelo. Para ello se han estudiado las fases que proponen los tres principales modelos y se han contrastado con la información que hemos obtenido durante las entrevistas en profundidad. Como principal aportación, hemos descubierto que existen una serie de condiciones de contorno que acaban definiendo un contexto en el que la fusión emerge como una solución a la situación planteada. A partir de ahí, se define una fase conceptual, una pre-fusión, una fusión como tal y una post-fusión que acabará derivando en un régimen estacionario. En cada una de las fases se han definido los principales hitos que permiten diferenciar el paso de una etapa a la otra. Además, se ha relacionado con el trabajo realizado respecto a factores críticos de éxito, retos y estrategias post-fusión (RQ3). Pensamos que con esta tesis aportamos una serie de avances relevantes en el estudio de las fusiones en instituciones de educación superior, que pueden ser de gran utilidad tanto para la academia y el debate científico, como para instituciones y decisores políticos que tengan que analizar y/o / Esta tesi estudia els models de fusió d'institucions d'educació superior, amb un especial èmfasi en el que hem anomenat l'etapa post-fusió. El context actual planteja diferents temes com la internacionalització, la globalització, els rànquings o l'escassetat de recursos que fa que en moltes ocasions emergeixi la idea d'una fusió universitària. Aquest tipus de fusions ha de poder abordar amb solidesa, tant si es planteja des de les pròpies institucions d'educació superior com si són els governs els que proposen aquest tipus d'accions per reestructurar el sistema d'educació superior d'un país. Encara que existeixen alguns estudis sobre fusions universitàries, hem observat que la majoria se centren en descriure casos concrets però no arriba a establir-se una teoria que pugui, de manera general, conceptualitzar els models de fusió, aportar una guia per a la seva posada en pràctica i ajudar als processos de presa de decisió que poden tindre lloc abans, durant i després d'una fusió. Això ens ha portat a la realització d'una anàlisi de contingut per a determinar en primer lloc quines són les tipologies de fusions i quins factors poden determinar el seu èxit o fracàs. Un segon anàlisi de contingut, ens ha permès desenvolupar diferents estratègies de fusions en educació superior. Finalment, l'estudi de cinc casos de fusions universitàries en el context europeu d'institucions denominades de "classe mundial", ens ha permès abordar amb solidesa l'anàlisi de la fase post-fusió. L'objectiu principal es plasma en l'estudi comparatiu de les fusions d'educació superior a través de tres preguntes d'investigació. La primera pregunta (RQ1), tracta de determinar quins són els factors d'èxit d'una fusió. La segona pregunta (RQ2), aborda la qüestió de si es pot o no plantejar un model generalitzat de fusió. La tercera pregunta (RQ3), es qüestiona com s'ha d'abordar l'etapa post-fusió. Amb això clarificarem la situació de les fusions en educació superior, temàtica que considerem requereix un tractament diferenciat enfront de les fusions i adquisicions en el sector privat. Per respondre a la primera pregunta (RQ1), hem hagut de definir d'una manera més clara el concepte de "fusió exitosa". Ens hem basat en la definició que dóna la literatura sobre fusió. A més, hem determinat una sèrie de temàtiques que sorgeixen en una fusió en base a la revisió de la literatura i dels casos que s'han treballat en la tesi. El llistat de temàtiques juntament amb el treball realitzat, ens ha emportat a poder definir una sèrie de factors crítics d'èxit perquè una fusió arribi a bon terme. La segona pregunta (RQ2) es basa en l'especificitat dels models de fusió existents a la literatura. És per això que es planteja si es pot generalitzar un model. Per a això s'han estudiat les fases que proposen els tres principals models i s'han contrastat amb la informació que hem obtingut durant les entrevistes en profunditat. Com a principal aportació, hem descobert que n'hi ha una sèrie de condicions de contorn que acaben definint un context en què la fusió emergeix com una solució a la situació plantejada. A partir d'aquí, es defineix una fase conceptual, una pre-fusió, una fusió com a tal i una post-fusió que acabarà derivant en un règim estacionari. En cadascuna de les fases s'han definit els principals moments que permeten diferenciar el pas d'una etapa a l'altra. A més, s'ha relacionat amb la feina feta pel que fa a factors crítics d'èxit, reptes i estratègies post-fusió (RQ3). Pensem que amb aquesta tesi aportem un seguit d'avenços rellevants en l'estudi de les fusions en institucions d'educació superior, que poden ser de gran utilitat tant per l'acadèmia i el debat científic, com per a institucions i decisors polítics que hagin de analitzar i / o abordar un procés de fusió. / Ripoll Soler, C. (2017). Modelos de fusión de instituciones de educación superior en Europa: estudio comparativo de la fase post-fusión [Tesis doctoral]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/86214 / Compendio

Submitted by Camila Yumy Saito (camilaysaito@gmail.com) on 2016-02-12T20:32:20Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação_CamilaSaito_versao_final_20160212.pdf: 1501778 bytes, checksum: 00c4f71977ac99248a0431bbf9dc63d0 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Renata de Souza Nascimento (renata.souza@fgv.br) on 2016-02-15T15:49:25Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação_CamilaSaito_versao_final_20160212.pdf: 1501778 bytes, checksum: 00c4f71977ac99248a0431bbf9dc63d0 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-02-15T15:56:57Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação_CamilaSaito_versao_final_20160212.pdf: 1501778 bytes, checksum: 00c4f71977ac99248a0431bbf9dc63d0 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-02-05 / O objetivo deste trabalho é abordar uma das linhas de investigação que tenta explicar o comportamento dos indivíduos no voto, a teoria da escolha racional ou teoria econômica do voto, a qual defende que os eleitores votam em governantes ou partidos potencialmente capazes de trazer-lhes algum benefício social ou econômico. No entanto, a relação entre desempenho de indicadores socioeconômicos e o resultado das urnas não se mostra tão evidente. A elevada assimetria de informação presente entre eleitores e formuladores de políticas públicas, além do problema conhecido como bounded memory, pode ajudar a explicar a não identificação ou a frágil evidência de racionalidade econômica no voto. Uma forma de tentar dirimir esses problemas, particularmente no caso de eleições estaduais, é através da divulgação de sistemas de rankings estaduais, que sejam de simples interpretação para o eleitorado. Assim, é feita uma proposta de elaboração de um ranking de desenvolvimento estadual que, por fim, é utilizado para testar a presença de racionalidade econômica nas eleições estaduais brasileiras. Os resultados não mostraram indicações de escolha racional nas eleições estaduais brasileiras e reforçam o argumento de que há elevada assimetria de informação e de bounded memory, o que poderia ser dirimido, ao menos em parte, com a maior propagação de sistemas de rankings estaduais. / The objective of this study is to make analysis of one of the lines of research that attempts to explain the behavior of individuals in voting, the rational choice theory or economic theory of voting, which argues that citizens vote for rulers potentially capable to bring them some social or economic benefit. However, the relationship between socio-economic indicators performance and the result of the ballot box does not appear so obvious. The high information asymmetry present among voters and policy makers, in addition to the problem known as bounded memory can help explain the failure to identify or flimsy evidence of economic rationality in the vote. One way to try to resolve these issues, particularly in the case of state elections is through the dissemination of state rankings systems which are simple to electorate interpretation. Thus a proposal to draw up a state development ranking is done, which is used to test the presence of economic rationality in the Brazilian state elections. The results showed no indications of rational choice in the Brazilian state elections and reinforce the argument that there is high information asymmetry and bounded memory, which could be settled, at least in part, to the further spread of state rankings systems.

Inequalities among different power groups are getting obvious in Kiru Valley, Tanzania mainly due to water scarcity. This paper aims to examine, by a case study, the increasing competition over irrigation water among Kiru Valley farmers in relation to socio-economic stratification. It is possible to divide the examined parts of Kiru Valley farmers into three dif-ferent power groups corresponding to their access to irrigation water. First, large-scale sugar cane farmers owned by Tanzanians with Indian origin located on strategic positions near the main rivers. Second, upstream small-scale rice cultivators receiving water from the IFAD (International Found for Agricultural Development) irrigation system and, third, downstream small-scale farmers cultivating rice in the Mapea wetland. To achieve the objectives in this study, Rapid Rural Appraisal (RRA) techniques have been used and especially wealth rank-ings to measure the socio-economic stratification. The wealth rankings demonstrate differences among Kiru Valley farmers. Those farmers connected to the IFAD irrigation system and the large-scale farmers have in higher amount a steady access to irrigation water than farmers cultivating the Mapea wetland. Consequently Mapea farmers are forced to rely on left over water from upstream IFAD farmers and sur-rounding large-scale farmers, leading to unfair distribution patterns and tensions among Kiru Valley farmers.  Finally, it has further been found that access to irrigation water is reflected in household economy. Mapea farmers have less capital goods and households properties com-pared to both IFAD-irrigators and large-scale farmers.

The purpose of this study was to identify Core components perceived by faculty to be effective in their prominent graduate entrepreneurship education programs. The study sought to identify the best practices in graduate entrepreneurship education programs from the perceptions of faculty in the field. Research questions guiding the study were: (1) What Core components related to the following Broad question areas are perceived by faculty to be effective in their prominent graduate entrepreneurship education programs: Activities and initiatives; Adult education principles and practices; Alumni and mentoring; Course offerings; Curriculum and degrees; Faculty data; Institutional characteristics; Instructional methods; Student companies; and Student data. (2) What other Core components and/or general observations are identified by faculty in the survey comments? (3) What are faculty perceptions of the popular marketplace publication rankings of graduate entrepreneurship education programs? A survey was distributed via the internet to faculty at 54 prominent graduate entrepreneurship education programs identified by The Princeton Review, US News & World Report, or the AACSB Entrepreneurship Spotlight Challenge. The survey was developed through several phases using panels of individuals with expertise related to this study. The resulting 106 Core components were divided into 10 Broad question areas and were evaluated individually and averaged for each Broad question area. Questions regarding the accuracy of graduate program rankings and student intent were also included, along with demographics, open-ended questions regarding additional Core components, and additional survey comments. The results of the study indicated the most important Core components in the Broad question areas were Alumni and mentoring and Institutional characteristics, while the Curriculum and degrees area was perceived to be much less important to graduate entrepreneurship education effectiveness. The results also indicated that student intent and popular marketplace publications were only moderately accurate in evaluating entrepreneurship education effectiveness. Four top programs dominated the perceptions of faculty as effective programs: Stanford, Babson, MIT, and Harvard. Findings indicated that faculty perceptions differed from other measures of effectiveness of graduate entrepreneurship education programs.