People are always the most precious assets and very hard to be replaced in the enterprises. Therefore, how to retain talented and experienced auditors and keep them in accounting firms is a very important issue that every accounting firm has to face. In this study, we want to understand: (1) If different auditors in accounting firms have influence on career orientation, achievement motivation, job satisfaction and their intention to stay. (2) Whether the career orientation, achievement motivation and job satisfaction of auditors in accounting firms affect their intention to stay. (3) To use job satisfaction as a mediator, analyze if achievement motivation passes through job satisfaction and then affects auditor¡¦s intention to stay. The results show that auditors with higher degrees of achievement motivation have higher degrees of job satisfaction. And if auditors with higher degrees of job satisfaction, their intentions to stay in accounting firms will also be stronger. Therefore, if accounting firms want to keep auditors to stay in accounting firms, first of all, they should recruit employees with higher degrees of achievement motivation. Then, they should try to increase auditors¡¦ degrees of job satisfaction. If these things can be done, auditors¡¦ intention to stay in accounting firms will be higher. If accounting firms can completely understand this point and try to raise auditors¡¦ welfares and improve their working environments, this study believes that auditors are willing to stay in the accounting firms and try their best to do their jobs.

Abstract Objective: Readmission is a big part of health care expenditure and recent studies suggested that hospital readmissions can be applied as an important indicator of quality of care within health care system. Furthermore elderly population usually costs the large amount health care expenses and is the main group in readmission. Moreover readmission is usually attributed to chronic diseases. Nevertheless, evaluations of hospital readmissions under universal health care coverage areas were not well-studied in Taiwan. Therefore this study aims to explore the associations between initial hospitalizations and probability of hospital readmissions in details. Research method: Patients aged 65 or older with primary clinical diagnosis of asthma or COPD based on ICD-9-CM for hospital admissions and readmissions in Taiwan.National claims of these two diseases were collected and analyzed from year 2000 to 2004. Population-based descriptive analyses of related health care utilizations were estimated. Multivariate logistic regressions were conducted to predict the probability of hospital readmissions. Controlled variables included patient factors, medical institutions¡¦ characteristics, urbanizations, and air quality indicators. Result: Among asthma and COPD elderly patients, more health care utilizations were observed in the hospital readmissions than initial admissions. Multivariate logistic regressions indicated that age, gender, disease severity, hospital characteristics, and air quality were significant predictors of the probability of hospital readmission. Meanwhile, age, disease severity, and hospital characteristics also significantly affected the time interval between initial admission and readmission. In addition, longer length of stay in the initial admission will significantly shorten the time interval between initial admission and readmission (P<0.001). Conclusion: For Asthma and COPD elderly patients, longer length of stay in the initial admission will significantly shorten the time interval between initial admission and readmission and have higher probability of hospital readmission. This study provides the evidence of reducing the health care expenditure by controlling readmission rate. With more understandings of factors affecting hospital readmissions, we can improve the health care delivery and reduce unplanned readmissions in the future. Key words: Asthma, COPD, hospital readmission, health care utilization, length of stay, admission fees

Since Taiwan implemented the two-day weekend in 1998, ¡§home stay¡¨ industry has become a hot trend in leisure and become more and more commercial. Therefore, the research motivation of the case study is to find out the key success factors in business strategies of the home stay industry in Taiwan. The research methods of this study are to interview home stay operators, to directly experience home stay, to collect consumer questionnaires, and to probe into literature information. Social science research is used to collect data. Then, qualitative research and descriptive statistics are used to analyze information and discuss the results. The results of the case study of the key success factors in business strategies of the home stay industry are as follows: 1.Core assets: A. Home stay operators must choose a right location. B. Home stay operators must have adequate financial resources, own land, aesthetic architectures, and etc. 2.Core competencies: A. Home stay operators need to have personal special expertise, knowledge, or skills. B. Home stay operators need to have correct business ideas. C. Home stay operators need the abilities of business strategies and implementation. D. Home stay operators are able to prioritize service quality and create a brand. 3.Characteristics and charms of operators: A. Operators need the personal characteristics and charms to establish close interaction with customers. B. Operators have the characteristics of tenacious perseverance to overcome operating obstacles on the early-stage venture. With the core resources and core competences mentioned above, operators integrate all kinds of resources and exert the business method of ¡§synergy ¡¨ to enhance competitive advantages and to create value for future home stay business.

This study presents a conceptual design process for one-way reinforced concrete slabs cast over Textile Reinforced Concrete (TRC) Stay-in-Place (SiP) formwork elements, aiming at the minimization of the composite slab cost satisfying Ultimate Limit State (ULS) and Serviceability Limit State (SLS) design criteria. The thin-walled TRC element is considered to participate in the structural behaviour of the composite slab. This distinct function of the TRC element (as formwork and as a part of a composite element) distinguishes the design procedure into two States: a Temporary and a Permanent one. Design parameters such as the type of the textile reinforcement (material), the geometry of the TRC cross-section, the flexural strength of the fine-grained concrete in the TRC element and the compressive strength of the cast in-situ concrete are considered as the main optimization variables.

INTRODUCTION: Preoperative pulmonary rehabilitation (PPR) is an emerging therapy for transplant candidates who are awaiting surgery. Research indicates that PPR training has benefits for improving exercise tolerance, but little researcher exists on the association between PPR on post-transplant hospital outcomes. METHODS: The study was a non-probability cross-sectional analysis performed on data for post-transplant recipients who received either a single or bilateral lung transplant from February 8, 2007 to July 8, 2014. The study sample consisted of 207 transplant recipients. Analyses of the associations between independent variables: preoperative pulmonary rehabilitation and six-minute walk distance (6MWD) and covariates were performed by logistic regression analysis to examine the following outcomes: length of stay, hospital readmissions in the first 90 days post- transplant, and the number of hospital readmissions in the first 90 days. RESULTS: Transplant recipients who participated in preoperative pulmonary rehabilitation had 1.77 times greater odds of being readmitted in the first 90 days post-transplant compared to recipients who did not participated in preoperative pulmonary rehabilitation. Transplant recipients whose 6MWD was greater than 207 meters and who participated in preoperative pulmonary rehabilitation had 4.99 times greater odds of length of staying 12 days or less post- transplant surgery compared to transplant recipients whose walk distance was less than 207 meters and who did not participate in preoperative pulmonary rehabilitation. CONCLUSION: Pulmonary rehabilitation is an important part of the lung transplant. The results of this study indicate the importance of preoperative lung transplant on post-transplant outcomes for transplant recipients.

The vast majority of child maltreatment in the United States is perpetrated by parents and over half of maltreated children placed in out-of-home care are reunified with the parents from which they were removed. Additional victimization of these children sometimes necessitates their reentry into out-of-home care. These realities emphasize the need to engage parents in assessment, planning, and services throughout the life of a child welfare case. Engagement is a key ingredient in social work practice and is widely accepted in the child protection arena as critical to successful service planning and participation. However, little research has focused on the relationship between engaging parents and child welfare case outcomes. Utilizing data systematically collected by the Florida Department of Children and Families as part of its quality assurance program, this study examined the relationship between case worker efforts to engage parents in case planning, decisions impacting the child, and services; and the length of a child's stay in out-of-home care related to being discharged within 12 months of entering out-of-home care, and a child's reentry into out-of-home care within 12 months of being reunified with his or her parents. Cox regression analyses revealed that Hispanic children were less likely to be discharged from out-of-home care within 12 months of entry and younger children were more likely to reenter out-of-home care within 12 months of being reunified with their parents. Multivariate models revealed that case worker efforts to engage fathers in case planning and decisions impacting the child were significant predictors of children being discharged from out-of-home care within 12 months of entry, though this did not hold true for efforts to engage mothers. No case worker efforts to engage parents were significant predictors of children reentering out-of-home care within 12 months of being reunified with their parents. Although this study took an important step in more fully understanding how engaging parents may influence case outcomes, the findings suggest considerations for social work practice and research. Additional training to enhance cultural awareness and cultural competency skills could aid case workers in tailoring their engagement efforts to the race/ethnicity of children and families with whom they work. Further research into the lack of association between engaging mothers and length of stay, and between engaging parents and reentry into out-of-home care is also warranted. Quantitatively measuring engagement from the parents' perspective should also advance the line of inquiry into the relationship between engagement and child welfare case outcomes.

The purpose of this prospective, descriptive, cross-sectional, correlational study was to explore the relationship between staff nurses' perceptions of first line manager coaching behaviors and nursing work environment characteristics, professional work satisfaction, job satisfaction, and intent to stay. Staff nurses perceived managers as engaging in certain coaching behaviors more frequently than others. Behaviors that established a mutually trusting and supportive relationship were reported as the most frequently occurring behaviors. Behaviors that supported the development of a mutually trusting and respectful relationship were reported as the most frequently occuring behaviors. Behaviors that supported one-on-one interactions focusing on individual development occurred less frequently. Managerial coaching behaviors were positively correlated with eight work environment characteristics which comprise professional work satisfaction, with medium to large effect sizes noted. Coaching behaviors also demonstrated positive relationships with job satisfaction and intent to stay. Correlational analyses and regression analyses illuminated the relationships between the variables. Mediation analysis of managerial coaching and the eight work environment characteristics defining professional work satisfaction provided more complete understanding of the relationship in prediction of intent to stay. The eight characteristics acted as either total or partial mediators of managerial coaching when predicting intent to stay. Demographic characteristics, managerial coaching and professional work satisfaction explained 41.4% of the variance in job satisfaction. Demographic characteristics, managerial coaching, professional work satisfaction, and job satisfaction explained 37% of the variance in intent to stay. / text

The purpose of this study was to determine whether parents of children who attend childcare centers have different attitudes and behaviors toward shaping their child's eating habits than parents of children who stay at home, and whether these attitudes and behaviors affect their child's dietary intake and weight. Fifty parents of 3- to 5-year-old children who attended childcare centers and fifty parents of 3- to 5-year-old children who stayed at home in Central Texas participated in the study. Parents completed questionnaires designed to measure the factors they considered when choosing food for their child, and their perceived influence on, satisfaction with, responsibility for, and control over their child's eating habits. After receiving training and measuring utensils, parents completed 3-day dietary records for their child. A researcher recorded the children's food intake when they were at the childcare center. Children's height and weight were measured, and body mass index was plotted on the CDC BMIfor- age growth charts (2000). Twelve percent of childcare children were obese compared to 2 percent of stay-at-home children (p<0.05). Children in childcare consumed more energy, vegetables, fat, saturated fat, and sweetened beverages than stay-at-home children (p<0.05), mostly due to consumption at the center. Both groups met requirements for all food groups and nutrients except grains, vegetables, and vitamin E. Their diets were too high in fat, contributing 32 percent of total energy. There was no evidence that parents of children in childcare felt less responsible for, less influential on, more satisfied with, or exerted less control over their child's diet than stay-at-home parents. Parents of childcare children believed that they and the childcare center shared responsibility for their child's nutrition. They felt that time was a more important factor in choosing food for their child than did stay-at-home parents. Parents who perceived lack of time to be an obstacle had children who consumed less energy, iron, and fat during the evening hours. Parents of overweight children felt more influential on and were more satisfied with their child's diets than parents of normal weight children. No other parental attitudes were predictive of children's food intake or weight status. / text

This study examined the effect of interdisciplinary discharge planning rounds on timing of social work intervention, length of stay (LOS), and readmission for patients aged 65 and over. Data sources were the medical charts of 449 patients discharged during two corresponding 28 day periods (one before end one after the implementation of rounds) supplemented by Discharge Planning Committee minutes (DPCM) and interviews with four key informants. No significant differences in the timing of social work intervention, LOS, or readmissions were found between the two samples. Qualitative research revealed that essential components were either missing (physician participation), or not uniformly included (family participation) in rounds, and that staff felt that rounds improved communication among the disciplines and contributed to improved efficiency in planning hospital and posthospital services. These findings highlight the need to further study all aspects of the complex discharge planning process to identify factors that would reduce LOS and readmissions.

Commercially available glass fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) off-the-shelf structural shapes have great potential as stay-in-place open structural forms for concrete structures, including bridge decks and girders. The system simplifies and accelerates construction, and the non-corrosive GFRP forms can fully or partially replace steel rebar. In this study, eight concrete slabs were constructed using flat pultruded GFRP plates, and nine girders were constructed using trapezoidal pultruded GFRP sheet pile sections as stay-in-place structural forms. No tension steel reinforcement was used. All specimens were tested in four-point monotonic uniaxial bending. Four adhesive and mechanical bond mechanisms were explored to accomplish composite action. The most effective mechanism, considering structural performance and ease of fabrication, was wet adhesive bonding of fresh concrete to GFRP. Although failure was by debonding, no slip was observed prior to failure. Other parameters studied were concrete slabs’ thicknesses and their shear span-to-depth ratios. For the girders, three different cross-sectional configurations were examined, namely, totally filled sheet piles, one with a voided concrete fill, and an all-GFRP box girder developed by bonding flat GFRP sheets to the upper flanges of the sheet piles with a cast-in-place concrete flange. Girders were tested in positive and negative bending to simulate continuity. The built-up box girders showed superior performance, with up to 70% higher strength and 65% lower weight than the totally filled sections. It was found that similar size conventional steel-reinforced concrete sections of comparable stiffness have considerably lower strength, while those of comparable strength have considerably higher stiffness than FRP-concrete members. An analytical model was developed to predict the behaviour and failure loads of slabs and girders, using cracked section analysis. A unique feature of the model is a multi-stepped failure criteria check that can detect flexural, shear, or bond failure. The model was successfully validated using the experimental results, and used in a parametric study. It was shown that using the typical value of 1MPa for shear strength of cement mortar predicts debonding failure, which occurs slightly above the interface, quite well. Also, in practical applications of longer spans, flexural failure is likely to occur prior to bond failure. / Thesis (Master, Civil Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2008-07-14 15:12:48.405