Resource Management Assessment Research Articles

African and Caribbean Nurses' Decisions about HIV Testing: A Mixed Methods Study.

Nurses in Jamaica, Kenya, South Africa, and Uganda are at risk for occupational exposure to HIV. Little is known about the experiences and policy supports related to nurses having themselves tested for the virus. This article reports a mixed-methods study about contextual influences on nurses' decision-making about HIV testing. Individual and focus group interviews, as well as a questionnaire on workplace polices and quality assurance and a human resource management assessment tool provided data. Fear of a positive diagnosis and stigma and lack of confidentiality along with gaps in the policy environment contributed to indecision about testing. There were significant differences in policy supports among countries. Institutional support must be addressed if improvements in HIV testing for health care workers are going to be effectively implemented. Future work is required to better understand how HRM policies intersect to create conditions of perceived vulnerability for HIV positive staff.

Principal Indicators for Efficiency Assessment of Resource Management in Foundry Production

The article gives a short target analysis of efficiency assessment as applied to casting techniques. Basic principles of efficiency assessment are defined. Efficiency criteria are proposed to optimize and quantify the efficiency of various prospective and existing foundry technologies. Functional, energy and resource criteria are selected as prime criteria. However, as shown in the article, energy criteria are the most common for comparison and assessment of manufacturing practices. The article reflects the fact that consumption of electrical, mechanical and other kinds of energy in socially-relevant production may be highlighted as an important indicator of technification in modern society development. The study leads us to the conclusion that the most common indicator of technification of any kind (social, informational, manufacturing, etc) is the efficient use of social time.