Search

This paper is a synthesis summary of an evaluation of the drama in Ogun and Oyo states. It is a four-phased Flexi Track survey and evaluation of the serial drama, which sought to assess the listenership, popularity and behavioural change impact of the radio drama among the target population.

Education in the area of entrepreneurship plays a significant role in the development of entrepreneurial skills in the individuals. It may help youth to develop skill, ability of decision making, risk taking ability, manage any situation, and proper acquisition of knowledge which could benefit them for starting, organizing and managing their own enterprises and became helpful in economic development. The target population is 417 graduates or post graduates students from the Entrepreneurship Development Cells (EDC) of premier institutions (two government and two private institutions) in which 136 were selected randomly as a sample for study. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used for analyzing the data with the help of SPSS 22.0 software. Present study evidences the role of EDCs in the skill development of male and female is equal in all components like ability of taking decisions, creativity, Research, Development and Innovation, taking initiatives and so on. Entrepreneur development cells of any institutions, programs and their faculties haven’t made any difference on the basic of gender. Their all programs are equal for all.

Background: We aimed to identify subjects that harbor colorectal cancer and will not complete colonoscopy within six months following a positive fecal occult blood test (target population) by artificial intelligence (A.I.) based tools. Methods: We trained and validated a machine learning model based on a dataset of the Clalit Health Services. The entire population included 25,219 subjects aged 50 to 74 years with a positive FOBT result who participated in the screening program between 2011 and 2013. The target population included 202 patients (0.8% of the total cohort; 26.5% of all cancer cases). Multiple socioeconomic, administrative, and laboratory data were collected. The portion of the total population singled out by the model was termed as subjects needed to engage (SNE). Findings: Using two threshold levels the model reduced the number of SNE to 3.85% (of the entire validation cohort), identifying 25.8% of the target population [Positve Predictive Value Value (PPV) 5.1%, 95% Confidence Intrval (CI) 4.4-5.8; Negative Predictive Value (NPV) 99.4%, 95%CI 99.4-99.4; Area Under Receiver Operative Curve (AUROC) 0.74 95%CI 0.73-0.76] or reduced the number of SNE to 15.9%, identifying 55% of the target population (PPV 2.7%, 95%CI 2.4-3.0; NPV 99.5%, 95%CI 99.5-99.6; AUROC 0.74 95%CI 0.73-0.76). Interpretation: An AI-derived tool can successfully identify subjects with a positive FOBT that are at high risk for both harboring CRC and not completing colonoscopy within six months. Implementing this approach may improve FOBT-based CRC screening programs from the first day of a positive FOBT. Funding: None to declare. Declaration of Interest: None to declare. Ethical Approval: The CHS ethical committee authorized the study.

U.S. government security along the U.S.–Mexican border has been increasingly militarized. This domestic militarization has been influenced by U.S. government military intervention abroad. Preparing for and executing foreign interventions involves investing in physical and human capital to effectively coerce and control the target population. The U.S. government’s “war on drugs” and “war on terror” created the conditions for this capital to be repurposed for domestic use in border-security efforts. While foreign policy created the conditions for border militarization, border militarization has also influenced foreign interventions. This article explores the symbiotic relationship between U.S. border militarization and foreign policy.

This research examines the role of moral disengagement towards counterproductive work behavior in the information technology sector of Pakistan. Furthermore, research is also focused on the mediating effect of information security awareness (Attitude & knowledge) and information security awareness behaviors. The target population consisted of public sector I.T. departments of Punjab, Pakistan. A convenience technique is utilized. Data collection has been done through a survey questionnaire from technical and non-technical staff currently employed in Punjab's public sector I.T. departments. Statistical software PLS-SEM is used for analysis. This study highlights the role of the information technology sector staff’s level of engagement that affects the employee’s counterproductive work behavior and information security awareness behavior. Moreover, the study proposes the management take the initiative for the implementation of strategies that will be helpful to get the awareness about information security among employees.

This research paper investigates the efficiency of applying some strategies to improve English verbal communication in Sudanese secondary schools besides the strategies teachers and learners are using now. To achieve this goal, the researchers assign some English language teachers and third grade secondary school students as a target population. The researchers use different questionnaires and pre and post tests as most appropriate methods for collecting the data. Then, they utilise the descriptive approach to analyse the data. Moreover, they use the SPSS programme to compute it. One of the results is that the abuse and lack of strategies of teaching and learning the target language leads to the deterioration of verbal communication. The most important researchers' recommendation is that, Sudanese English language teachers in secondary schools should apply all recommended listening strategies and train their students to listen more effectively to native listening materials.

The price index for dwelling rents in Finland have been measured from data that is collected in connection with the Labour Force Survey (LFS). The construction of index series is based on the base strategy with log-Laspeyres as the index number formula. Some problems have emerged: First, the data did not allow detailed regional classification. Second, the purpose of data collection was mainly for labour markets survey, not for dwelling rents (i.e. weighting into target population). Third, the selection of proper index number formula had not been adequately analyzed. In this study we analyze these three questions by new monthly collected data having over 400 000 observations from whole country quite representatively. The data includes dwelling rents from the Social Insurance Institution's register of housing allowances and from two major private rental housing companies. It includes government-subsidized and non-subsidized dwellings.

In Iran, the health sector has been undergoing reforms since its inception, each of which has had implications for the overall purpose of responding to the needs of society and improving the health system. Implementation of these reforms, considering the factors that impede the implementation of the program, has led to significant achievements for the health of the country. The purpose of this study was to collect data from statistical population and analyze it through SPSS software in a target population of 100 people who participated in this study. They were distributed and asked to complete it. The questionnaire contains topics related to the satisfaction of the recently refurbished main hospital ward. Satisfaction with the performance of hospital spaces that has created proper access and workflow has also had a positive effect on increasing overall satisfaction with 92.9% satisfaction. Keep it as high as possible.

The two main COVID-19 vaccines currently available in the U.S. are typically administered in two doses, with a prescribed number of weeks separating the two doses. Because of uncertainty in vaccine supply, many vaccination centers are saving doses in inventory to ensure on-time second doses. However, saving doses in inventory slows the administration of first doses and potentially delays completing the vaccination of the target population. In this paper, we use a mathematical model to explore the performance of policies to manage the administration of first and second doses in the face of supply uncertainty. The structure of the model suggests simple ``set-aside'' policies that reserve doses for second doses that are due in the coming weeks. For example, using parameters based on data collected from a hospital-run vaccination center, we recommend that each week: (i) the vaccination center should complete all second doses due, if possible, and (ii) if doses remain, they should set aside vaccine for second doses scheduled for the following one to two weeks. Any doses beyond this should be used for first doses. A policy that ensures no second doses will be delayed appears to be overly conservative. In our experiments, the performance of the recommended set-aside policy is close to a bound generated by the optimal allocation given perfect information about vaccine supply; this set-aside policy is thus nearly optimal given uncertainty in supply. We also show that set-aside policies perform well for larger-scale vaccination centers and centers with supply parameters based on state-level data. Finally, we use the model to quantify the value of reducing the variability and uncertainty in vaccine supply.

The general aim of this study was to ascertain the factors that really affect teacher motivation in Dompoase Senior High School. The target population was all teachers from Dompoase Senior High School. The study involved 50 teachers and also depended on both primary and secondary data. The teachers were selected through the purposive sampling technique. The questionnaire was used as a major instrument in collecting data. The major findings of the study demonstrated that job satisfaction, reward systems, professional training and development were the major factors that really affect teacher motivation. With reference to the findings, it was recommended that, first, school management should provide an enabling environment for teachers to guarantee their motivation and satisfaction with their jobs. Last, the study recommended that teachers should go to in-service training to modernize their skills.

This paper examines the impact of an experiment in North Macedonia in which vulnerable unemployed individuals applying to a subsidized employment program were randomly selected to attend job interviews. Employers hiring a new employee from the target population receive a subsidy covering the wage cost of the worker for the first six months. Using administrative employment data, we find that attending the job interview led to an increase of 15 percentage points in the likelihood of being employed 3.5 years after the start of the intervention. We also find positive and statistically significant effects on individuals’ non-cognitive and work-related skills.

Borrowing information from populations with similar structural mortality patterns and trajectories has been well recognized as a useful strategy for the mortality forecasting of a target population. This paper presents a flexible framework for the selection of populations from a given candidate pool to assist a target population in mortality forecasting. The defining feature of the framework is the deletion-substitution-addition (DSA) algorithm, which is entirely data-driven and versatile to work with any multiple-population model for mortality prediction. In numerical studies, the framework with an extended augmented common factor model is applied to the Human Mortality Database, and the superiority of the proposed framework is evident in mortality forecasting performance.

Background: Cervical cancer is a notable vaccine-preventable disease. Previous studies support a two-pronged approach incorporating human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination and cervical screening. Diagrams enabling the visual evaluation of cervical cancer control by displaying the HPV vaccination and cervical screening rates are lacking in both small jurisdictions and at the nation/country level. This study generated a simple scatter chart displaying both rates, enabling the identification of a relevant area in which to investigate concrete primary and secondary prophylactic measures. Methods: Data on HPV vaccination and cervical screening from local governments in Wakayama, Japan, were obtained from e-Stat for the following populations: the target population for HPV vaccination in 2013, vaccinated people, and women aged ≥ 20 years who had undergone cervical screening. The relationship between the HPV vaccination and cervical screening rates was analysed in eight public health centre units, and a scatter chart was created with prefectural average values. Then, one local government with relatively high HPV vaccination and cervical screening rates was selected for a historical case study with archived documents. Findings: HPV vaccination and cervical screening rates differed substantially among the relevant units (highest: 47.1% and 50.4%; lowest: 8.1% and 36.8%). We constructed scatter charts with four profiles of vaccination and screening rates (high-high, high-low, low-high, and low-low). Good-practice areas were characterised by the systematic implementation of community- and school-based cervical cancer awareness programmes and personalised information provision. Interpretation: This scatter chart visualises the two-pronged approach to primary and secondary cervical cancer prophylaxis for cervical cancer control in relevant areas. Such charts can help local governments prioritise measures for cervical cancer control among target residents. To promote cervical cancer control, a plan-do-check-act cycle should be implemented in the relevant cancer control area through a person-centred perspective for target residents, especially those who have missed HPV vaccinations. Funding: None. Declaration of Interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests. Ethics Approval Statement: Not applicable.

This paper seeks to answer what characterizes people’s online teaching and learning experience during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. I conducted a one-month long ethnographic study of five informants using Merleau-Ponty’s key phenomenological concepts to examine how current working and studying conditions challenge students and educators’ temporal and spatial sensations and what strategies they take to cope with these challenges during their Zoom meetings. Additionally, I employed the autoethnographic method in order to fill in the gap where participation with informants’ daily life was unreachable by documenting my personal experience during and beyond the Zoom class. Through a small sample of the target population, this paper captures a snapshot of people’s initial adjustment to remote educational channels, particularly via Zoom meetings, and therefore provides helpful information in terms of creating resources and improving Zoom class experience for students and educators.

This study focused on the effect of employee training and development on public institution performance case of National Itorero Commission. The general objective of this research was to determine the effect of employee training and development on public institution performance where specifically the study had to find out the extent to which training and development policies effect on NIC performance, to establish the effect of evaluation of training and development on NIC performance, to identify the training and development challenges that effect the performance of NIC and to establish the contribution of employee training and development on the performance of NIC . This study adopted a descriptive type of research design which has set out to describe how employee training and development contribute on the performance of NIC and the target population which is also the sample size because it is a small number, the staff on NIC working at the headquarters and others working at district level. The questionnaire was used for gathering data. The validity of the questionnaire has been tested with the aid of the supervisor, research experts knowledgeable about the themes of the study. The results of this study was obtained by using regression analysis indicated that a well-designed training and development policy, training and development evaluation well done and training and development challenges handled have a positive effect on NIC performance. The findings revealed a positive and significant effect of employee training and development evaluation on NIC. This indicate that if employee training and development evaluation is well done after training it will effect NIC performance where (r=0.986

I study changes in health insurance coverage associated with a large government initiative to help people understand and compare their health insurance options. Funding for the initiative was not associated with increased rates of marketplace coverage, but was associated with increased uptake of free Medicaid coverage in expansion states. Novel data on the policy’s target population, people with low insurance literacy, show potential mechanisms: 69% had over-estimated the generosity of insurance, and 36% were income eligible for Medicaid but unaware. These findings demonstrate the importance of measuring the beliefs and characteristics of the targeted individuals when designing and evaluating policy.

We present the results of a survey on a population of 200 conscript soldiers, probing their willingness to participate (WTP) voluntarily to the maintenance and beautification of an archaeological site - the Heraion of Samos- during their military service. The evaluation of this good is impossible in market terms; consequently, a modified version of the Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) was applied. The population was divided in two equal groups. The first group received a questionnaire and were asked to reply without any information on the significance of the particular site. The other half were given informative material. Subsequently, the first group was divided in two equal subgroups. One subgroup was asked to re-fill the same questionnaire following an update in the form of the same informative material (post-questionnaire update). The results indicate strong positive correlation between willingness to participate (WTP) and information. Further, WTP shows positive correlation against age, level of education and locality.

This study focused on gender discrepancies in innovations and industrial development in Zimbabwe. The target population are into innovations in Kelvin West and City hall in Bulawayo city of Zimbabwe. Gender discrepancies are as a result of many factors that range from cultural to religious or traditional beliefs. This has seen lesser women in taking part in innovations that are traditionally male dominated. Women are involved in small innovations at a smaller scale due to the numerous roles that they do. The family and societal expectations on women hinders them to develop their small enterprises to big industries. While men have more opportunities to engage in any activity and they also more mobile than women. The society also expect them to run around and fend for the families hence increasing their networks that would help them enlarge their enterprises. The women have to be empowered to do what they are capable of doing and society has to appreciate one capabilities regardless of their gender orientation. The owners of small enterprise would benefit from being linked with the outside world. Hence skills for networking should be imparted into the owners of small enterprises to enable to expand.

Purpose - The main purpose of this paper is to identify the informal learning ways at workplace and its impact on skill enhancement of employees. Design/Methodology/Approach - The paper is exploratory and analytical in nature. Target population for the study was trainers of Bhartiya Skill Development University, Jaipur, India. The paper has been analyzed, concluded on the basis of data collected from both the sources primary and secondary. Primary data has been collected with the help of questionnaire and interview of employees and secondary data collected from research papers, books, journal, articles, and related work done in this field. Finding - The main findings of the paper are that informal learning takes place at workplace default and it is an innovative tool for employees’ learning. Some ways of informal learning like Participation in coworker’s job, providing training to others, interaction with other staff and students some of the ways help in trainers to enhance their technical, soft, and human skills. Research Implications - This paper will contribute to recognize the ways of informal learning in organizations which further help in to develop skills of employees. Practical Implication - The study’s findings can give organizations and HR practitioners ideas about how to engage employees in learning with innovative informal learning practices, how to relate learning with different activities of employees and how to enhance their skills with informal learning activities. The study can also be used as base to develop learning model in an organization with right proportion of learning activities. Originality/Value - This study is original in Indian context, which tries to find out the different informal ways of learning at workplace and its impact on skills enchantment of Trainers.

In this article, I propose a multidimensional deprivation measure of poverty for the EU with the aim of improving the measurement performance of existing deprivation scales. The paper stands on the claim that a deprivation measure can be adequate, both conceptually and empirically, to capture poverty in the EU defined in Townsendian terms. Yet existing deprivation scales have three conceptual problems such as data-driven specification, neglected dimensionality and missing dimensions, and four data problems such as limited extent, cross-cultural equivalization, behavioral choices and reporting error. To address conceptual problems, I offer a concept-led methodology to construct a multidimensional measure. To address data problems, I apply a post-hoc adjustment strategy using dual criteria of income poverty and financial strain. The proposed measure has four dimensions, namely needs for basic goods, health, education, leisure and social relationships, where each dimension is evaluated separately with relevant scales. When compared to the formal EU 2020 poverty target measure, the proposed measure is more likely to capture people with needs and lower resources as well as those in less affluent countries than those in more affluent countries. The (adjusted) proposed measure can be used as a stand-alone indicator to identify a target population for policy; or the unadjusted proposed measure can be combined with an income poverty measure to identify a worst-off group within that target population.

Many studies show that workers make poor decisions about pension savings. Policy responses to these failures include social security retirement arrangements, tax benefits for pension savings and, in some countries, also mandatory private savings towards retirement. This study examines the response of Israeli employees to the introduction of mandatory pension contributions, and the medium-term labor market effects of the arrangement, using a randomly selected panel of 300,000 employees. The first year of the arrangement, when enforcement was lax and compliance partial, provides an opportunity to identify employee preferences, before compliance became almost universal. We find that in this year both the probability of beginning to save and the tendency to contribute at rates above the required minimum were positively correlated with how (un)beneficial the required pension savings were for the employee. We also show that 5 years after the arrangement was initiated wages of its target population were reduced by nearly the full amount of the increase in employers' contributions. These outcomes indicate a rational and informed response of the employees and that such arrangements require careful and detailed examination of their consequences for the affected population.

To what extent do U.S. law school demographics concerning gender, race, and ethnicity reflect the same demographics of their applicant populations? This is a preview (highlighting law school rankings) of a forthcoming paper that attempts to answer the question by developing a measurement of demographic representation with a single index. It derives this measure for law school and baseline populations with various demographic dimensions (the boring technical stuff in Appendix A, page 16). It then ranks law schools against various demographic baselines, including the U.S. population as a whole and the state populations in which each school operates (the more exciting “does-my-school-rank-higher-than-your-school” stuff in Appendix B, page 21). The results let individual law schools know how close their student populations are to their overall target populations with respect to gender, race, and ethnicity. The ultimate conclusion of the forthcoming paper is that the baseline a law school uses to establish its degree of representation matters significantly to the results.

Spanish Abstract: En el presente articulo estimo la importancia de la habilidad no cognitiva ligada a la personalidad en el desempeno laboral de los trabajadores colombianos. En particular, evaluo el efecto del grado de estabilidad emocional, la amabilidad o empatia, la escrupulosidad y el locus de control sobre el salario por hora, el tiempo de permanencia en un empleo determinado y la probabilidad de experimentar una situacion de desempleo de la poblacion objetivo. Para tal fin, expongo un modelo teorico bajo el enfoque de salarios de eficiencia y posteriormente desarrollo una estrategia empirica utilizando datos de la Encuesta Longitudinal Colombiana de la Universidad de los Andes (ELCA). Los resultados indican que todas las medidas de habilidad no cognitiva propuestas, a excepcion del grado de escrupulosidad, tienen, en mayor o menor medida, un efecto significativo sobre el desempeno en el mercado de trabajo. English Abstract: In this article I estimate the importance of non-cognitive ability linked to personality in the job performance of Colombian workers. In particular, I evaluate the effect of the degree of emotional stability, kindness or empathy, conscientiousness and locus of control on the hourly wage, the time spent on a particular job and the likelihood of experiencing unemployment of the target population. To this end, I present a theoretical model under the focus of efficiency wages and, subsequently, I develop an empirical strategy using data from the Colombian Longitudinal Survey of the University of the Andes (ELCA). The results indicate that all proposed measures of non-cognitive ability, except for the degree of conscientiousness, have, to a greater or lesser extent, a significant effect on workers’ performance in the labor market.

Amazon.com’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk) is becoming a major outlet for social science research. Despite an increasing number of researchers using MTurk, this system was not designed for carrying out behavioral research. Thus, researchers using MTurk must overcome the inherent limitations of the system when using it for research purposes. This paper provides a roadmap for researchers wanting to use MTurk for distributing surveys or experiments, in light of its limitations as a research tool. Specifically, this paper provides the requisite knowledge to setup MTurk as a distribution portal, identifies pitfalls associated with using MTurk for research, as well as discusses more advanced techniques such as accessing target populations with MTurk’s general population. Further, this paper discusses external considerations that may require researchers to alter their surveys or experiments to facilitate use with MTurk.

Summary Exploiting a window of opportunity in Vietnam, this paper examines the impact of social health insurance on target population groups. Significant inequalities in the coverage of service utilization and financial protection are found across groups. Persons with disabilities, and retirees to a lesser extent, experienced relatively high rates of service utilization and were most at risk of health care-induced poverty. A higher level of targeting in the design of benefit packages is recommended.

Students in the UC Davis Graduate Student Practicum in Rural Community Advocacy partnered with Legal Services of Northern California (LSNC) to work with the residents of nonmetro Plumas County, California, to study the community’s access to health services, with a particular focus on the rollout of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and enrollment in Path2Health, its California precursor to the ACA. Groups of law students and community development graduate students twice travelled to Plumas County to conduct interviews with residents. These interviews revealed a community that seeks to understand the health care options and opportunities available to them, including the ACA. This report was prepared specifically for LSNC Health in order to inform the organization’s work related to ACA education and implementation in Plumas County, as well as elsewhere in rural California. Following is an overview of recurring trends from our investigation. Next are two concept maps showing the relationships among various barriers to health care. Third, we discuss promising programs in place in Plumas County and our recommendations for reaching target populations regarding the ACA. We close with a detailed contact list.

This research examined the school-to-work (STW) program participation of academic and vocational concentrators in high school. Analyzing the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 (NLSY97) survey and transcript data, the researchers explored point estimations inferred to the target population. As a result, 9 out of 10 students have participated in STW-related programs at least once while in high school, and there is no noticeable difference by ethnicity and gender in overall STW participation. In terms of curriculum concentration, academic concentrators are more likely to participate in STW programs than vocational concentrators, except students in the Hispanic/others group. Among the academic concentrators, female students showed higher likelihood of STW involvement than male students, whereas male vocational concentrators represented higher participation rates than female vocational concentrators. In both concentrations, Non-black/non-Hispanic students reported the largest participation, while students in the Hispanic/others group demonstrated the least participation rates.

Raising living standard of people in community always remains an important issue in any society. Microfinance has been considered as an effective tool to address this issue for centuries. Currently it has been operating in almost all the countries. This research study was conducted to explore the role of microfinance banks in raising the living standard of people in Larkana district. The target population included all the customers of First Microfinance Bank (FMB). The total number of the customers was 5000. The sample of 100 respondents was drawn through convenience sampling procedure. A structured questionnaire was made related to dependent (living standard) and independent variables (microfinance). The data was collected through survey by approaching the respondents in First Microfinance Bank. The regression method was used to find out the impact of microfinance on the living standard of the borrowers for this research study. Our proposed hypothesis was accepted that there is positive impact of microfinance on the living standard of the borrowers. But based on the detailed analysis, it has been found that the microfinance (size of loan) causes very small variation in the Living Standard of the borrowers. This demonstrated that there is huge impact of some other factors on the living standard of the borrowers, i.e. micro insurance, savings, other microfinance financial services etc. furthermore, it was observed that the loan size is not satisfactory. This was also the reason of such small impact of microfinance (size of loan) on living standard. It has been evident from the overall analysis that through the assistance microfinance activities poor can stand on his own, sustain, survive and improve their living standard.

Millions of U.S. adults are unbanked and lack access to safe financial accounts. The MyAccountCard pilot program offered low-income adults a prepaid card account that could be used for electronic delivery of their tax refunds and everyday financial transactions. Key findings from the evaluation, designed to test different account features, include (1) the card account appealed most to its target population: likely unbanked individuals were three times more likely to take-up the card; (2) individuals are price sensitive: charging a monthly fee decreased card take-up by roughly 40 percent; and (3) the savings account as designed in this pilot was not perceived as valuable.

Military and civilian actors, including humanitarian and development oriented NGOs, increasingly find themselves working in close proximity and with shared objectives within zones of conflict. This has resulted in growing integration of the two groups; cooperative frameworks have arisen and military actors have mainstreamed ‘humanitarian-like’ capabilities into their operations. Termed by some the ‘militarisation of aid’, this trend has been observed in conflicts across the past fifteen years, but is perhaps most visible in present day Afghanistan.Cooperation between actors can seem logical in the face of insecurity, contested environments and shared objectives. However, existing cooperative frameworks are heavily influenced, in design and operation, by military actors. Engagement of humanitarian actors in these frameworks can open the door to their politicisation, erosion of traditional values and reduce their ability to access target populations. Similarly military adoption of aid as a strategic asset, to be employed in the pursuit of politico-military objectives, runs the risk of tainting the humanitarian enterprise as whole. Such action blurs the distinction between military and civilian actors and places NGOs and their intended beneficiaries in danger, legitimising both as targets for opposition groups.This paper argues that it is imperative that humanitarians become more proactive in their engagement with these issues. Military actors must make better provision for the safeguarding of civilian agencies during the planning and implementation of their operations. They should also desist from the use of aid as a strategic tool, as in doing so they constrict humanitarian space and ultimately reduce the ability of all actors to serve those in need of assistance.

This study examines whether traditional health beliefs and practices of fisher folk villages of north costal Andhra Pradesh reported in the literature were consistent with those of a target population of low-income women in Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and Visakhapatnam and describes how these traditional classifications of illness and healing practices were related to their understanding of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). A qualitative approach was used to gather the data in unstructured interviews. Content analysis was used to classify data. Sources of illness and remedies identified by the patients were divided into two categories: natural and supernatural. Natural sources included cold, impurities, diet, weakness, lack of moderation, and stress. Supernatural sources included illnesses allowed by God, witchcraft, and evil influences. Remedies included antidotes, food, medicines, prayer, and healing. Analysis of the relationship of AIDS to traditional beliefs revealed that AIDS had been integrated into the traditional conceptualization of illness, health practices, and healing, and was attributed to both natural and supernatural causes. Prevention, prayer, and spiritual healing were recommended as remedies. Implications were that AIDS education, prevention, and treatment programs be within the context of the traditional belief system.

This study analyzes various microfinance models in the wake of the current crises in Bangladesh and India. It presents a critical analysis of the Grameen Bank model, the MC2 model, the village banking model, and the SKS-microfinance model. It concludes that the MC2 microfinance model is superior to other models due to its strong community identity feature. MC2 are rural development micro-banks created and managed by a community in keeping to their local values and customs.The paper states that models like SKS, Grameen bank and the village banking mode are market based and investor driven. They force the poor into inflexible contracts with high interest rates. The paper advocates the MC2 model, because MC2: Is created, owned, controlled and managed by people in keeping with local values, traditions, customs and reality; Has practical interest rates that conform to the low purchasing power of its target population; Has a unique four pillar approach that links the expertise of a commercial bank, an international NGO, local populations and national and international partners; Uses a five stages development setup that emphasizes savings and self-sufficiency.

The use of students as surrogates for managers in experiments is commonplace, yet the validity of this practice has not been established. This paper contributes to our understanding of the appropriateness of using student samples by replicating a manager-based experiment with students and comparing the outcome. The result is that student responses are significantly different from manager responses, but both samples lead to the same conclusion with respect to the research question in the experiment. This suggests that having some disassociation between students and the target population they are meant to represent does not necessarily have an adverse effect on inference. Student characteristics are then examined to identify subgroups that are most similar to managers. The findings are that students with work experience, average grades, and a background suited to the experiment are the best surrogates for managers.

Este trabalho buscou investigar motivacoes, expectativas e influencias relacionadas a obtencao do titulo de mestre em Ciencias Contabeis, pelo Programa Multiinstitucional e Inter-Regional de Pos-Graduacao em Ciencias Contabeis da UnB/UFPB/UFPE/UFRN, com base nas avaliacoes e percepcoes de seus egressos. Para isto, lancou-se mao da fundamentacao teorica que trata da Teoria do Capital Humano, da pos-graduacao stricto sensu em nivel de mestrado no Brasil e da pos-graduacao em Ciencias Contabeis. A metodologia adotada caracteriza-se como exploratorio-descritiva apoiada no metodo indutivo, utilizando as tecnicas da pesquisa bibliografica e documental. Assim, aplicou-se um questionario a 96 egressos deste programa, entre os dias 01/07 e 31/08/2008, representando 70.07% da populacao investigada. Para efetuar a analise descritiva e estatistica dos dados foram utilizados os softwares Excel e SPSS. Em seus resultados, observou-se que as principais variaveis que motivaram os respondentes a ingressarem no mestrado foram a “obtencao de mais conhecimentos”, a “obtencao de diferenciacao profissional” e a “ampliacao das oportunidades de emprego”; a principal expectativa atingida referiu-se a principal motivacao (obtencao de mais conhecimento), seguida pela “ampliacao da formacao geral” e pela “capacitacao em pesquisa”; e, os principais fatores influenciados pelo titulo foram: amadurecimento profissional, respeitabilidade e reconhecimento academico/profissional e espirito academico. Conclui-se, portanto, que o titulo influencia positivamente o desempenho academico e profissional dos egressos, ratificando os pressupostos da Teoria do Capital Humano quanto ao aumento de sua empregabilidade, produtividade e rendimento potencial. This study investigated the motivations, expectations and impacts related to obtaining a master's degree in Accounting Sciences from the Multi-institutional and Inter-regional Masters Program in Accounting Sciences of UnB/UFPB/UFPE/UFRN, based on evaluations and perceptions of those graduating from the program. The propositions of Human Capital Theory served to orient the study. An exploratory and descriptive methodology was adopted, supported by inductive reasoning and using the techniques of bibliographical and documental research. In addition, a questionnaire was answered by 96 persons who graduated from this program between January 1 and August 31, 2008, representing 70.07% of the target population. Excel and SPSS were used for the descriptive and statistical analyses carried out. Results demonstrated that the principal motivations cited for entering in the master’s program were to “obtain more knowledge”, “obtain professional differentiation” and “increase job opportunities”. The principal expectation realized coincided with the principal motivator (“obtain more knowledge”), followed by “increased all-round education” and “training in research”. The impacts perceived as resulting from the degree were: professional maturity, academic and professional recognition and respect, and identification with academic ideals. It is concluded that holding the degree has positive influence on the academic professional performance of program graduates, corroborating the assumptions of Human Capital Theory with respect to employability, productivity and potential income.

Typical Website design varies across cultures. There are still few studies that explore characteristics of a Web site perceived as culturally congruent with Arab target populations. The objective of this paper is to identify the cultural characteristics employed on Tunisian Web sites. The authors conduct a content analysis of the 25 most visited Tunisian Web sites to identify website characteristics that account for cultural congruency in Tunisia. The results are useful to improve the design of websites targeting Tunisian online consumers.

The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) expansion in 1993 has substantially increased the benefit available to a family with two or more children compared to a family with one child and to a family with no children. Using national survey data and this differential increase in EITC benefits, this study examines the effect of the 1993 EITC expansion on the labor supply of unmarried women. I find that the 1993 expansion has substantially increased the labor force participation of those women with two or more children. Moreover, the increase in the participation rate was mainly from less-educated women, the target population of the EITC program. Regarding the hours of work, I find evidence that the expansion increased total hours worked by all unmarried women. However, I find no evidence of statistically significant changes in annual hours worked by currently unmarried female workers.

Currently, there are approximately 169 mental health courts in the US. At least 15 mental health courts reside in Ohio while there is only one in Kentucky. There are 25 mental health courts in Idaho and about 21 in California. Meanwhile, North Dakota, South Dakota, Kansas, Michigan, Nebraska, New Jersey, Wyoming, Connecticut, Massachusetts, the District of Columbia, Arkansas and Mississippi do not have any mental health courts. North Dakota, South Dakota, Mississippi, and Wyoming have no pre-booking or post-booking jail diversion programs at all (GAINS 2007). Why is there such disparity in mental health courts in the United States? What does it take to start a mental health court? How are participants screened into mental health court? This article compares the 9 of the 16 mental health courts in Ohio and Kentucky, as well as the conditions present in Northern Kentucky where a regional mental health court is currently forming. This article focuses on mental health courts as opposed to pre-booking and post-booking programs, the target population for mental health courts, the conditions that support a mental health court program, and the elements of mental health courts.

The purpose of this survey was to identify what financial service professionals in the target population indicated they need to build their business and what the Society of Financial Service Professionals can do to help meet those needs.Key findings from the survey include:•The objectives of the SFSP should be to both provide support for continuing education and to help members develop innovative products in service of their clients’ needs.•A substantial number of current members responded, providing a strong basis for strategic planning for SFSP services and benefits offers.•There is strong and significant interest in Star Speakers, perhaps the serving as the basis for a Speakers Series to drive attendance and membership initiatives.•A contact database for providing members with access to allied service professionals should be established.•One-day programs on all areas of financial planning are of interest to the respondents.•One-day programs on selected areas of sales support are of interest to the respondents.