This thesis explores the Visit Friends and Relatives (VFR) tourism experiences of highly skilled first-generation Italians and Chinese in Sweden. It focuses on personal networks influence on migrant hosts’ interaction and participation in the place and how the Covid-19 global immobility has changed the dynamics and the feelings towards the place. Data are collected through semi-structured interviews with a participative target sociogram as memory recollection and visualization tool. Results showed that VFR is mainly a within network experience and the interaction with the place and the society is marginal and influenced by hosts’ mediation, their local network structure and composition. The VFR aspect of sharing quality time emerges as central element. The local dimension shapes place interaction and participation dynamics: the migrant host personal relation to the local place, their local network structure and composition, and the difference of having a native member in the network are crucial elements.

This thesis is at the intersection of migration and labour in tourism and the hospitality sector. Empirically, this study explores the experiences of well-trained migrant dishwashing employees (DE) in restaurants in Copenhagen, Denmark and aims to understand their motivation for migration. They, while acquiring hospitality sector experience, struggle beyond the workplace to fulfill their intentions of long term settlement. The study explores how they face resistance to labour market access and participation based on their skills and experience. The focus of this qualitative study is on the highly skilled Green card Holders (GCH) of Denmark, majority of who are stuck as DE in the restaurant industry. This master thesis argues about the challenges of employability, underutilization of foreign education credentials and work-life struggle. A sizable proportion of GCH have managed to find jobs and are working as DE. Qualified professionals like IT specialists, teachers, accountants, and engineers face unanticipated challenges that are explained through open-ended unstructured interviews with GCH. These professionals are still working as DE or have left the Danish labour market. Further, this thesis explores how these DE are struggling to lead the routine life of an expat. I have discussed the significance of job satisfaction as blue- collar employees in the host country and compared it with white-collar job experience from their respective home countries. GCH migrants from Asian countries in Denmark have come under the spotlight during this study. This study provides unique insights from their experience as a DE, exploitation of human capital flight, feelings of humiliation and discrimination of GCH despite being well trained employed back home. Highlighting some of the challenges as a migrant DE, it makes a strong case for reviewing national policy towards them. / <p>2022-01-22</p>

This master thesis in optimization and systems theory is a development of two different optimization models formulated to schedule multi-skilled agents for contact centers depending on the forecasted demand, assigned by Teleopti. Four mixed integer linear programming models are created with the optimization programming language GAMS and solved by the internet based solver NEOS. Two of the models are formulated to perform an optimal scheduling that matches a forecasted demand per skill and day and the remaining two models are formulated to perform an optimal scheduling that matches a forecasted demand per skill, day and half hour. The first two models are referred to as the Basic Models and the second two are referred to as the Complex Models. The Basic Models includes seven constraints and the Complex Model includes nine constraints, describing regulations at the contact center. The main goal of the project is to find an optimal solution that results in an as even distribution of under or over scheduling. The scheduling optimization covers a period of 28 days, starting on a Monday which results in four weeks. The optimization models are based on two sets of data, there are 104 assigned agents that possesses one, two or three of the skills Channel, Direct and Product. All agents are bound to work according to a contract specified through the constraints. In the Basic Model the forecasted demand is given in amount of hours per day and skill, the demand is non-cyclical. In the Complex model the forecasted demand is given in amount of half hours per day, skill and half hour. Each day is scheduled from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. resulting in 32 available half hours. All optimization models are developed to correctly mathematically formulate the constraints specified by Teleopti. Any non-linear equation that arises are linearized to maintain linearity, this is favourable in the sense of computational time solving the models. The objective functions in this thesis are formulated to describe the main goal of even distribution as correctly as possible. The result for the Basic Model shows that an optimal solution is achieved after 34 seconds. This model contains 169,080 variables and 39,913 equations. In the Complex Models integer solutions are achieved, but no optimal solution is found in 8 hours of computational time. The larger Complex Model contains 9,385,984 variables and 1,052,253 equations and the smaller Complex Model contains 5,596,952 variables and 210,685 equations. Teleopti’s scheduler produces an integer solution matching the Complex Model in 4 minutes. / Detta examensarbete i optimering och systemteori är framtagningen av två olika optimeringsmodeller formulerade för att schemalägga multikompetenta agenter för kontaktcenters beroende av den förväntade efterfrågan, tilldelad av Teleopti. Fyra blandade heltals linjära programmeringsmodeller skapas med optimeringsprogrammeringsspråket GAMS och löses av den internetbaserade lösaren NEOS. Två av modellerna är formulerade för att utföra en optimal schemaläggning som matchar en prognostiserad efterfrågan per skicklighet och dag och de återstående två modellerna är formulerade för att utföra en optimal schemaläggning som matchar en prognostiserad efterfrågan per färdighet, dag och en halvtimme. De två första modellerna i detta arbete benämns de Grundläggande Modellerna och de resterande två benämns de Komplexa Modellerna. Grundmodellerna inkluderar sju bivillkor och de Komplexa modellerna innehåller nio bivillkor, vilka beskriver arbetsvillkoren på kontaktcentret. Projektets huvudmål är att hitta en optimal lösning som resulterar i en jämn fördelning av under- eller överschemaläggning. Den schemalagda optimeringen täcker en period av 28 dagar, vilken börjar på en måndag vilket resulterar i fyra veckor. Optimeringsmodellerna är baserade på två uppsättningar data, det finns 104 tillgängliga agenter vilka har en, två eller tre av kompetenserna Channel, Direct och Product. Alla agenter är bundna att arbeta enligt det kontrakt som specificeras genom bivillkoren. I grundmodellen anges den prognostiserade efterfrågan i timmar per dygn och kompetens, efterfrågan är icke-cyklisk. I den komplexa modellen anges den beräknade efterfrågan i mängd halvtimmar per dag, kompetens och halvtimme. Varje dag är schemalagd från kl. 07.00 till 23.00 vilket resulterar i 32 tillgängliga halvtimmar. Alla optimeringsmodeller är utvecklade för att matematiskt beskriva de begränsningar som Teleopti specificerar. Alla icke-linjära ekvationer som uppstår linjäriseras för att upprätthålla linjäritet, detta är gynnsamt i avseendet mängd tid beräkningen av modellerna tar. Målfunktionerna i detta arbete är formulerade för att beskriva huvudmålet för jämn distribution så korrekt som möjligt. Resultatet för grundmodellen visar att en optimal lösning uppnås efter 34 sekunder. Denna modell innehåller 169,080 variabler och 39,913 ekvationer. I de komplexa modellerna uppnås heltalslösningar, men ingen optimal lösning hittas på 8 timmars beräkningstid. Den större komplexa modellen innehåller 9,385,984 variabler och 1,052,253 ekvationer och den mindre komplexa modellen innehåller 5,596,952 variabler och 210,665 ekvationer. Teleoptis schemaläggare producerar en heltalslösning som matchar den komplexa modellen på 4 minuter.

Sweden has once been an emigration country, but as the years went by and as the world is in constant change, it turned into an immigration country. One of the most debated questions politically and economically is the employment gap between immigrants and natives. The available studies have mainly described the employment gap between immigrants and natives by human capital factors and discrimination on the labour market. The goal of this paper is to discover the correlation between the local factors and the employment gap between European, non-European immigrants and natives, on municipality level while controlling for education level and gender. Using data from Statistics Sweden and SKR, and an OLS multiple linear regression, we could capture this effect. The local factors studied are the unemployment rate, share of immigrants, share of low-skilled jobs and the size of the municipality. The overall results suggest that the region of birth does have an impact on the employment gap between immigrants and natives, where the biggest gap is between the non-European immigrants and the natives, which is in line with previous studies. Furthermore, both Europeans’ and non-Europeans’ employment rate is mostly correlated with the municipality size followed by the local unemployment rate. Taking the limitations of this paper into account, these results are only an indication and further studies need to be made to further insure the correlation between the local factors and the employment rate.

The purpose of this study was to explore elementary teachers' self-reporting of: a) work with a reading coach and b) attitudes, perceptions, and practices in teaching reading. The five point ratings and open-ended responses on the survey were the sources of data. Surveys were returned by 85% of teachers in five elementary schools in Collier County, Florida. Correlations of survey items were analyzed on the basis of the aggregated data and the following subgroups: certification, years of experience, school demographics, and grade levels. The survey in this study was excerpted and adapted from a survey, which was tested for validity and reliability, used with teachers in a research study, and published by the National Staff Development Council (NSDC) in Evaluating professional development: An approach to verifying program impact on teachers and students (Shaha, Lewis, O'Donnell, & Brown, 2004). Permission to use the survey was granted by Performance Learning Systems, Inc. and the National Staff Development Council (see Acknowledgements). The primary question for this study was: Are teachers' self-reports of their attitudes, perceptions, and instructional practices on the Reading Instruction Survey correlated with the amount of coaching they indicated they had received? Secondary questions pertained to how the results changed for the subgroups. The literature review contained information about resources and research in reading that led to the provision of reading coaches. High-stakes for the improvement of reading instruction from federal, state, and local levels provided a rationale for the study. The results of this study indicated that coaching made a difference for these teachers. The aggregated and disaggregated data revealed small to large, significant correlations to coaching. The items with the greatest number and magnitude of correlations to coaching were isolated skills instruction and intervention plans. The evidence of positive relationships of attitudes, perceptions, and practices to work with a coach is an important finding. The limited correlations of skilled, balanced, and integrated strategies led to questions about the content of the coaching. Further research is needed to determine whether the content of the professional development offered by coaches is comprehensive enough to impact reading proficiency levels of all students.

Background: Occupational stress is a global and complex phenomenon, and workers in developing countries can be affected by it (International Labour Organisation 2001). Staff within maternity settings have been identified as being at risk of suffering from stress, resulting in adverse health outcomes (Evenden and Sharpe, 2002). However, MWAs’ perceptions of stress have not been captured and are not reflected in the literature. Purpose: The aim of this study was to explore MWAs’ perceptions of occupational stress, possible cause(s), the impact and support available and the coping methods they adopted within maternity care settings (hospital) in Nigeria. Methodology: This study adopted a qualitative methodology. Husserl’s (1962) phenomenological approach was chosen as it enabled the researcher to collect rich, in-depth, descriptive accounts of the MWAs’ perceptions of the phenomenon under study through the use of semi-structured interviews. Findings: The major sources of stress for MWAs included work overload, long working hours, staff shortages, work exploitation and intensification and lack of support from senior staff. The stress levels MWAs experienced impacted on their health and well-being and resulted in related behavioural and physical reactions. Conclusion: This study confirmed that MWAs were exposed to similar stress factors experienced by other health workers and reported in the research literature. Additionally, it demonstrated the need for more qualitative studies to explore the perceptions of occupational stress among under-represented groups of healthcare workers. Importantly, this study created an opportunity to explore the experience of dedicated women facing challenging employment practices in hospital settings in Nigeria. Equally, it gave a voice to these unrecognised, almost invisible women, who were the MWAs that played a key role within the maternity services.

Целью данного исследования является описание и сравнение феномена утечки мозгов в индонезийских и российских квалифицированных кадровых ресурсах, а также сравнение решений, которые были приняты правительствами двух стран. Рекомендации, предложенные автором для индонезийского правительства, должны следовать тому, как российское правительство решает проблему утечки мозгов. А также должны многое улучшить в области высшего образования, стипендиальной политики, признания работы национальных ученых и очень долгой бюрократии. Для российского правительства повышение политической стабильности и улучшение качества жизни его граждан является ключом к решению проблемы утечки мозгов. / The goal of this study is to describe and compare the brain drain phenomenon in Indonesian and Russian qualified human resources, as well as compare solutions that have been carried out by the governments of the two countries. The recommendations proposed by the author for the Indonesian government to follow the way of how the Russian government solves the brain drain problem. And also must improve a lot in the fields of higher education, scholarship policy, appreciation for the work of the nation's scientists and a very long bureaucracy. For the Russian government, increasing political stability and improving the quality of life of its citizens is the key to solving the brain drain problem.

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No description available.

Chaque année, un grand nombre d’immigrants arrivent dans la grande région de Montréal. Parmi eux, nous trouvons des travailleurs qualifiés qui retournent souvent aux études supérieures pour s'insérer sur le marché du travail québécois. Cette catégorie d'immigration a des trajectoires d'études et professionnelles qui diffèrent de celles des Québécois. De nombreuses recherches ont été réalisées sur l'immigration, mais les études sur le parcours migratoire qui considèrent le contexte du pays d'origine et le contexte du pays d'arrivée comme un continuum sont plus rares. Cette étude exploratoire a pour objectif de saisir les cheminements d'études et professionnels de travailleuses qualifiées en contexte migratoire entre la Colombie et le Québec. Il s'agira d’identifier les moments clés qui ont jalonné et facilité ces cheminements. Nous avons mobilisé le paradigme du parcours de vie pour comprendre les trajectoires d'études et professionnelles des femmes colombiennes. Nous avons utilisé ce paradigme pour interpréter les données résultant de quatorze entretiens menés avec des immigrantes colombiennes qualifiées à Montréal. Nous avons ensuite analysé les résultats selon leur contenu thématique, pour conclure qu’il y avait chez les femmes interrogées, plusieurs éléments clés qui ont facilité leurs trajectoires d'études et professionnelles de la Colombie jusqu'au Québec. L’analyse du discours met en évidence le fait que le réseau familial en Colombie ont une portée sur ces trajectoires tout aussi significative que le rôle de l'État au Québec en l’absence du réseau social perdu lors de la migration. Le support du conjoint reste constant dans les deux contextes. Le caractère exploratoire de notre étude ne permet pas de généraliser ces résultats, mais il reste que ce mémoire invite à élargir le regard sur cet objet trop peu étudié en sociologie que sont les trajectoires d'études et professionnelles de travailleuses qualifiées issues de l'immigration, trajectoires appréhendées comme un continuum entre les deux sociétés. / Each year, a large number of immigrants arrive in the greater Montreal area. Among them, we find skilled workers who often return to higher education to enter the Quebec job market. This category of immigration have academic and professional experiences that differ from those of Quebec. Many studies have been carried out on immigration, but studies on the migratory journey that consider the context of the country of origin and the context of the country of arrival as a continuum are rarer. This exploratory study aims to understand the evolution of academic and professional experiences throughout the migratory trajectory in two contrasting contexts, Colombia on the one hand and Quebec on the other, and to identify the key moments that facilitated these experiences. We used the life course paradigm to better understand the academic and professional experiences of Colombian women. We used this paradigm to interpret the data from fourteen interviews conducted with Colombian immigrant women in Montreal in the category of skilled workers. We then analyzed the results according to their thematic content, to conclude that there were several key elements among the interviewed women that facilitated their academic and professional experiences from Colombia to Quebec. Discourse analysis highlights the fact that the social network in Colombia has a bearing on these trajectories that are just as significant as the role of the state in Quebec in the absence of the social network lost during migration. Spousal support remains constant in both contexts. The exploratory nature of our study does not allow us to generalize these results, but the fact remains that this thesis invites us to broaden our view of this subject that is too little studied in sociology, namely the study of the academic and professional experiences of Colombian women in the category of skilled workers throughout their migratory trajectory as a continuum between two societies.