Financial Readiness Research Articles

E-Readiness Status of Primary Schools Implementing Digital Devices in Kisii County

<p>Delivery of education content to learners in many learning environments has greatly been enhanced by the deployment and implementation of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) in the world today. Many developing countries are putting in place strategies to ensure their education systems use ICT to improve and diversify learning to meet the global changes in technology. In Kenya, ICT Integration in Primary Education is one of the key flagship programmes that has received keen attention by the government in the past few years through the primary schools Digital Literacy Programme (DLP). This research endeavoured to establish the e-readiness of primary schools implementing use of digital devices in Kisii County. Survey research design was applied in the study. The population of the study constituted of 710 primary school head teachers, 1,420 standard one and two teachers and 71,000 standard one and two pupils. Sample size was determined using the fisher formula and the sample consisted of 249 primary school head teachers, 302 standard one and two teachers and 381 standard one and two pupils. Purposive sampling was used to select schools, head teachers and teachers. Simple random sampling was used to select the specific schools to include in the study and proportionate sampling was used to determine the number of respondents from each school. The research instruments applied in the research included self-administered questionnaires for teachers and head teachers and interview schedules for pupils. To ascertain the reliability of the research instruments, a pilot test was carried out and a Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of 0.76 was realized. Data was analysed qualitatively and quantitatively using descriptive statistics in SPSS.The research established that the main impediment to implementation of the DLP was the psychological and financial readiness within the schools. There should be a well planned training schedule for teachers and a budget be put in place for the primary schools for the DLP.</p>

Institutional Drivers of Internet Voting Adoption in Ghana: A Qualitative Exploratory Studies

Internet voting system adoption in elections can bring enormous benefits to an electoral process. Though few countries have adopted it for their legally binding elections, others have discontinued its use because of perceived vulnerabilities. But it has been argued that the benefits the internet voting system provide outweigh the perceived vulnerabilities. The main purpose of this study is to examine the drivers of the internet voting system from the organizational context. The study is purely qualitative using semi-structured interviews. The interview participants were top management of EC staff, political parties’ executives and experts who were purposively selected, and thematic analysis was used to extract patterns from the data collected. The main themes that emerged from the thematic analysis include pressure from political parties, pressure from the government, legal framework, financial readiness of EC, EC top management support, convenience, accuracy, and increase voter turnouts. The discussion of the findings and the implication of the results were discussed in the study.

Aligning the Good Practice MASK With the Objectives of the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing.

The reference sites of the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing (EIP on AHA) were renewed in 2019. The DG Santé good practice Mobile Airways Sentinel networK was reviewed to meet the objectives of the EIP on AHA. It included 1) Management of care process, 2) Blueprint of digital transformation, 3) EIP on AHA, innovation to market, 4) Community for monitoring and assessment framework, 5) Political, organizational, technological and financial readiness, 6) Contributing to European co-operation and transferability, 7) Delivering evidence of impact against the triple win approach, 8) Contribution to the European Digital Transformation of Health and Care and 9) scale of demonstration and deployment of innovation

E-learning readiness of universities in Nigeria- what are the opinions of the academic staff of Nigeria’s premier university?

This paper examined the opinions of academic staff of the University of Ibadan Nigeria regarding the preparedness of stakeholders of e-learning in Nigeria for fruitful e-learning experience and action in Nigerian universities. Data was collected from 240 lecturers using a questionnaire. The lecturers considered e-learning as an add-on, as they expressed inability to integrate e-learning into their present task and do not even have the time to do so. Lecturers’ assessment of e-readiness of students indicated that the lecturers were undecided on whether the students actually know what e-learning is, and have sufficient IT and web skills required to drive e-learning. However, lecturers have confidence in the IT capacity of their institutions and their IT staff regarding e-learning. Students’ readiness and human resources readiness were not significant factors influencing lecturers’ opinions about readiness of Nigerian universities towards the adoption of e-learning. But public/society readiness, financial readiness, training readiness, ICT-equipment readiness, and e-learning material/contents readiness were significant influencers on readiness of Nigerian universities towards the adoption of e-learning.

Stress-testing as a method of macroprudential policy and information security in banking sector

The article contains an overview of the essence, history, components, scenarios, methodology and results of stress testing of the Ukrainian banking system. The purpose of this paper is to explore and analyze existing approaches to stress testing as a method of macro-prudential policy of the Central Bank, to determine the results of quantitative risk assessment and financial stability of banks and their readiness to have sufficient capital to cover losses in various macroeconomic scenarios, as well as to develop a model of integrated assessment and rating of banks based on the results of stress testing. In order to summarize the results of the study, a model of integrated assessment was developed and a rating of banks was built based on the analysis of their financial stability, capital adequacy and readiness to withstand the crisis. To solve the problem of qualitative analysis of the stress-testing results in terms of a significant number of indicators and calculations a simulation of the integral indicator is proposed which helps information users group the data, obtain a generalized assessment and form a rating of banks according to the financial stability reserve.

Examining How College Promise Programs Promote Student Academic and Financial Readiness

AbstractCurrently college promise programs are proliferating in number at the local and state levels. Most promise programs provide financial resources beyond conventional state and federal student aid to students who live in designated places and meet local‐ or state‐defined eligibility criteria. There is an immense variety of models and funding designs for these programs. In this study, we conducted a rigorous content analysis of the public web sites for a diverse subsample of 35 promise programs to explore how college promise programs promote student academic and financial readiness. Although our analysis made it clear that there is more to learn about promise programs, including understanding general administrative processes and program operations, we highlight several design and implementation considerations that may increase the capacity of these programs to promote equity in higher education access and success.

The Psychology of Retirement: A “Can’t Let Go” Syndrome

The retirement patterns of faculty are an issue of ongoing interest in higher education. Retirement, although not typically a crisis, is a unique transition in the life course. Beyond financial readiness, emotional and other psychological factors of retirement tend to weigh on faculty as they consider their own retirement. This article addresses two significant questions: First, how do faculty members feel when they decide to retire by choice? Second, what are the primary emotional challenges of their voluntary retirement? Focusing on the psychological adjustment to retirement instead of the financial aspects, this literature review seeks to achieve a better understanding of the psychological issues that faculty experience during their transition to retirement and the factors that affect their subsequent well-being. After all, the demands of an academic career are such that many will not have developed a variety of meaningful and satisfying pursuits outside academia sufficient to sustain them in retirement.

Factors affecting outcomes of EU-supported investments in innovation among SMEs in the Greater Poland (Wielkopolska) region, Poland

PurposeThe European Union offers support mechanisms to help small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to innovate and grow. Given the substantial contribution of SMEs to national economies, the present paper explores what factors tend to be associated with the success of EU-supported innovation by SMEs in Poland during its early post-accession period.Design/methodology/approachA conceptual model relating the type of innovation, investment purpose, funding type and financial readiness, location and collaboration possibilities, company size and sector of operation to changes in the capital base, employment, unit price and revenue is proposed. This model is operationalised and estimated as a structural equations model and estimated using a sample of 110 SMEs surveyed in 2008 in the Greater Poland (Wielkopolska) region in Poland.FindingsTwo approaches to the successful use of innovation support have been observed among the studied companies. The first approach implements market innovations to establish a presence in foreign markets and to move the product or service up the value chain. The second approach uses the funding to de-risk workforce expansion and increase production capacity.Originality/valueThe paper provides the first systematic disaggregate level analysis of an early post-accession context where impacts of EU support for SME innovation are decomposed into effects of specific investment conditions and innovation type on changes in capital base, employment, unit price and ultimately revenue. The insights provided here are valuable for managers developing business and innovation strategies on the one hand, but also for policymakers responsible for creating an entrepreneurship friendly environment in emerging economies.

Factors Affecting Web Disclosure Adoption in the Nonprofit Sector

ABSTRACTNonprofit organizations (NPOs) are strategically using their own personal website to present themselves to the public and share information. Despite the potential benefits of enhanced public confidence and trust, reduced operating costs, improved donor decision making, and increased donations, many nonprofit organizations have resisted the adoption of web disclosure. Informed by the literature on information systems (IS) adoption and technological innovation, this study examines the primary factors that influence the adoption and resistance of web disclosure. Our sample consisted of 176 survey responses from an initial group of 3,323 U.S. NPOs. The statistical results indicate that attitude toward disclosure, compatibility of disclosure with current practices, and financial readiness have a positive influence on web disclosure adoption. The findings have implications for research and practice.

An Army of Debt

Over the past decade, the US Department of Defense has become increasingly concerned with how the financial insecurity of military families compromises the overall security of the nation. Through an analysis of the policy reports focusing on predatory lending and military personnel and the initiatives designed to improve the financial capabilities of servicemembers and their families, this article situates the everyday domestic lives of indebted military personnel with respect to the racialized, gendered and militarized logics of global finance capital. Specifically, I argue that the perceived crisis in ‘financial readiness’ is endemic to the US security state and its efforts to protect and produce financialized markets at home and abroad. Inspired by the growing body of Cultural Studies and American Studies scholarship on the relationship between race, empire and the financialization of capitalism, this article unpacks the ways in which state practices of war-making fuel and are fueled by the chronic indebtedness of communities of colour and working-class communities. I open with a discussion of how the Pentagon's coercive enlistment practices burden economically insecure bodies with the work of securing the nation and, in doing so, create concentrated populations of young people who, with a regular pay cheque yet no credit history, are particularly vulnerable to the financial structures they ‘volunteered’ to defend. I then conclude with an examination of the Pentagon's family-focused financial readiness programmes that school servicemembers in how to invest for their futures and that call specifically upon military wives to do the labour of mobilizing household financial plans in the service of US imperial interests. By focusing on how military families are imagined to manage and mismanage their debt, this article offers insight into how the militarization of citizenship coincides with the financialization of family life in the United States today.

KARAKTERISTIK KELUARGA, KESIAPAN MENIKAH ISTRI, DAN PERKEMBANGAN ANAK USIA 3-5 TAHUN

Marital readiness was considered as an important indicator for successful marriage and also could enhance child development, espeially for early phase of family and early childhood. However, the study about marital readiness and child development were still limited. The study was a retrospective and cross sectional design of 120 families whose children aged 3-5 years old. Samples were selected by stratified nonproportional simple random sampling in two areas in Ratu Jaya and Bojong Pondok Terong, Cipayung Sub district, Depok. Theresults showed that attainment of wife’s marital readiness was in middle category which was below 65; it means that the family did not have good marital readiness. Two of marital readiness dimension were intellectual and financial readiness which was still below 50 or in low category. Maternal length of education was correlated positively significant with marital readiness, while marital readiness was correlated positively significant with child development. The results of regression showed the child development was influenced positively by sex of children, age of children, and marital readiness (intellectual and individual readiness). Meanwhile, the child development was influenced negatively by length of marriage.

High-Level Managers’ Considerations for RFID Adoption in Hospitals: An Empirical Study in Taiwan

Prior researches have indicated that an appropriate adoption of information technology (IT) can help hospitals significantly improve services and operations. Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is believed to be the next generation innovation technology for automatic data collection and asset/people tracking. Based on the Technology-Organization-Environment (TOE) framework, this study investigated high-level managers' considerations for RFID adoption in hospitals. This research reviewed literature related IT adoption in business and followed the results of a preliminary survey with 37 practical experts in hospitals to theorize a model for the RFID adoption in hospitals. Through a field survey of 102 hospitals and hypotheses testing, this research identified key factors influencing RFID adoption. Follow-up in-depth interviews with three high-level managers of IS department from three case hospitals respectively also presented an insight into the decision of RFID's adoption. Based on the research findings, cost, ubiquity, compatibility, security and privacy risk, top management support, hospital scale, financial readiness and government policy were concluded to be the key factors influencing RFID adoption in hospitals. For practitioners, this study provided a comprehensive overview of government policies able to promote the technology, while helping the RFID solution providers understand how to reduce the IT barriers in order to enhance hospitals' willingness to adopt RFID.

Lesbians’ Perceived Readiness to Parent

Women who self-identify as lesbian are choosing to be mothers; such pursuit is full of challenges. Still many lesbian women are making deliberate choices to pursue motherhood. Thus, they are negotiating that choice within a culture which is both heterocentric and homophobic. This article explores the ways women are prioritizing factors influencing their decision to pursue motherhood utilizing phenomenological methods. Findings suggest lesbian women feel perceived parenting readiness is the paramount indicator of parenting readiness. Further, readiness is characterized by emotional and financial readiness, relationship stability, and having adequate sources of support.

KESIAPAN MENIKAH PADA DEWASA MUDA DAN PENGARUHNYA TERHADAP USIA MENIKAH

This study aimed to analyze marriage readiness factors among young adults and to analyze its influences on the marriage age. Samples in this study were 110 college students. Qualitative data of marriage readiness was analyzed using content analysis approach, revealed seven factors that are emotional, role, financial, social, age, spiritual, and sexuality readiness. Quantitative data of marriage readiness was analyzed by using analysis factor, and revealed ten factors that are emotional control, empathy ability, financial, role, age, and sexuality readiness, communication skill, social ability, social cognitive, and tolerance. Based on the two analysis, marriage readiness factors among young adults were emotional (emotional control and empathy), social (social ability, social cognitive, and tolerance), role, communication, age, financial, and sexual. Marriage readiness between male dan female was different, for male the most important was financial readiness, but female was emotional readiness. Ideal marriage age for male was 26,3 and for female was 23,9 years old, but expected age to marriage of male was 26,1 and female was 24,2 years old. Statistic regression analysis showed that marriage readiness influence the marriage age. The increasing of empathy ability and financial readiness influenced on increasing age of marriage. Meanwhile, the increasing of age readiness, sexuality, and communication ability influenced on the decreasing of marriage.

Crisis readiness, strategic orientation and performance: evidence from Turkey

The present study investigates the intersection of crisis management and strategic management using a sample drawn from the Turkish hotel industry. In particular, the study seeks relationships between preparations in organisational crisis-oriented functions (crisis readiness), applied strategy (represented by strategy typologies), and perceived performance. In addition, the study investigates if crisis readiness varies depending on the demographic properties of organisations. The findings clearly indicate a relationship between crisis readiness and strategy typology, namely cost leadership, differentiation and focus. In addition, Turkish hotel firms classified as reactors exhibit a higher level of crisis readiness than defenders, analyser and prospectors; moreover, a significant difference exists between reactors and prospectors. Significant relationships between crisis readiness and financial performance and crisis readiness and non-financial performance are found. However, a hypothesis concerning crisis readiness differences among hotels with respect to organisational demographics is not supported.

Perfil das reservas particulares do patrimônio natural do Estado do Paraná

Private reserves of natural patrimony profile in the State of Paraná. Private Reserves of Natural Patrimony have a fundamental role in environmental preservation, as a component of the Brazilian National Protected Area System. This study aimed to evaluate the private reserves’ profile by selecting questions asked to 66 private reserve owners, personally, from July to November, 2004. Data was processed by univariate and bivariate analyses, developed by Le Sphinx Plus statistical package. Results showed that the municipal government provided the main stimulus for the creation of private reserves in the state of Parana, as the municipality receives financial support generated by an Ecological Tax (Ecological ICMS); most private protected areas have no management plan. The protection of these private lands did not endured due to the lack of financial readiness and a lack of research due to insufficient support from and acknowledgement among universities, research institutions and others.

Motivators and Inhibitors of e-Commerce Technology Adoption: Online Stock Trading by Small Brokerage Firms in New Zealand

As electronic commerce becomes increasingly important in the global economy, it has the potential to change the dynamics of the global market and the way in which firms conduct their business. It is therefore important to understand the factors that motivate or hinder e- commerce adoption, and hence the development of the electronic market. This study investigates four full-service stock brokerage firms at various stages of adoption of online stock trading technology. The findings suggest that business strategy, perceived net benefits, strong management commitment, and external pressure are key factors motivating adoption. Conversely, poor alignment with business strategy, perceived low (or negative) net benefit(particularly low or nil return on EC investments), and low management commitment are likely to inhibit adoption. Contrary to expectations, technological and financial readiness were not found to be motivators of adoption.

Requirements For Major Oil Sands Mining Projects In Canada

Abstract Canadian conventional oil production is declining and any significant new conventional oil discoveries are located in remote, high cost frontier areas. Synthetic crude oil and bitumen production from the vast, known oil sands in Alberta could offset the decline. Although oil sands tend to be an expensive source of supply, their abundance and proximity to markets and industrial centres, as well as the significant potential for reducing production costs through technology improvements, make them attractive candidates for commercial development. For this to become reality, certain prerequisites need to be in place. Since oil sand leases were first granted in northeast Alberta in the late 1950s, only two major oil sands mining projects have been developed. Although several similar oil sands projects have been proposed since then, none hove proceeded much beyond the design stage. This paper reviews the development history and nature of oil sands mining projects, examines the requirements for major oil sands mining projects in Canada and the lessons leaned from previously proposed projects. The paper focusses on the impact that stakeholder commitment, appropriate fiscal terms, corporate financial strength, technology development and readiness, quality project development and operational excellence market understanding, resource quality and the balancing of resource development with environmental responsibility have on the feasibility of developing this resource. Introduction Over the next 15 years, production from Canada's conventional established oil reserves are expected to decline by up to 50%. New conventional oil discoveries in remote high-cost frontier areas and synthetic crude oil (SCO) and bitumen production from vast known oil sands resources could help to offset this decline. Already Alberta's oil sands are playing a significant role in meeting current energy demands. The combined bitumen and SCO production from these in situ and surface mining projects account for about 20% of Canada's daily oil production. Although the potential of the Athabasca oil sands has been known for more than 200 years, development of the resource did not begin until the 1930s. The first commercial project started production in 1967. In 1990, the Athabasca deposit, home of the Suncor Inc. and Syncrude Canada Ltd. commercial mining projects, was the source of 33 130 m3/d (208 390 bbl/d) of SCO or 13% of Canada's oil production. Since production from these two operations first began, six similar oil sands mining projects have been proposed. However, none have proceeded much beyond the design stage. The seventh project, the OSLO Project is in its pre-appropriation stage. The OSLO Project promises an additional 12 700 m3/d (80 000 bbl/d) of SCO or 5% of Canada's daily oil production. Development History Background Development of the Athabasca oil sands as a source of crude oil reserves has been slow. Research into the nature of the oil sands started in the early 1880s when researchers at the Geological Survey of Canada in Ottawa conducted an experiment to separate the bitumen from the sand using hot water.