A study of personalisation and the factors affecting the uptake of personal budgets by mental health service users in the UK - A research study commissioned by MIND

This project was commissioned by Mind to add to its knowledge base and existing work on Personalisation so as to support individuals to have greater choice and control over their care and support needs. The project was funded by the Department of Health as part of its Strategic Development fund „Personalisation and Choice of Care and Support (IESD1) 2011‟. This report provides an overview of the main findings of this qualitative study, exploring the concept of personalisation, the factors affecting its operationalisation by voluntary and statutory sector organisations, and service users‟ experiences of its implementation, particularly in relation to what affects their uptake and experience of Personal Budgets. In the course of our investigation into current practice and experience, we have identified a number of barriers and enablers. Our view is that the impact of effective action to tackle the barriers will result in an improved experience of the Personal Budget process and its outcomes for carers and front line staff as well as service users. Recommendations are made for future work in this area

Sustainability, Livelihoods, and Quality of Life of Older Retirees in Lagos State, Nigeria

Later life is celebrated in Africa because it is seen as a blessing from God. Therefore, older people are generally treated with dignity. But with modernization, African senior citizens suffer diverse challenges and experience difficulty in meeting their basic needs. Hence, the need for sustainable livelihoods that will address life deprivations and improve the quality of life of Nigerian elders. This article examines the sustainability of retirement livelihoods and its impact on quality of life of formal sector retirees in Nigeria. It argues that beyond the conventional survival mechanisms, Nigerian retirees require resilient and sustainable livelihoods in order to enhance their quality of life. Life course perspective and activity theory are adopted as explanatory tools. With the aid of a multi-stage systematic sampling method, 1,321 Nigerian retirees in Lagos State were studied to examine their livelihoods and quality of life. Empirical data reveal that access to multiple sources of income promotes sustainability of retirement livelihoods and quality of life with private sector retirees being more empowered and adequately protected against life vicissitudes. This culminates in vulnerability and precarious living conditions of public sector retirees. The article concludes with the need to strengthen formal and informal social supports in order to improve retirement livelihoods and promote quality of life of retirees

Education as a correlate of life satisfaction among formal sector retirees in Lagos State, Nigeria

The effect of education on life satisfaction among formal sector retirees in Lagos State was assessed to determine its impact on life adjustment in retirement. The study also examined the effects of education on self-rated health and well-being of formal sector retirees. Life course perspective, dependency theory, Modernization theory of ageing and wealth flow theory were adopted for the theoretical framework. Using a multi-staged systematic sampling method, retirees from the public sector and organized private sector were covered through questionnaire and structured interviews. Questionnaires were administered on 1321 retirees while 20 in-depth interviews were conducted for executive members of pensioners’ unions and pension managers. Older retirees with at least secondary education had better living conditions and reported higher life satisfaction than their counterparts with lower educational qualifications. The paper concludes with a policy implication, stressing the importance of income security and life skills to retirement planning and life satisfaction in retirement.

Women's accounts of pregnancy: Psychological and feminist issues

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University, 16/04/1999.This thesis examines the changing nature of women's pregnancy experiences as progression through the various stages of pregnancy occurs. Ten women are followed through their pregnancies, in order to capture their diverse and dynamic psycho-social experiences. The aim of the research is to highlight the significance of certain psycho-social issues related to the pregnancy experience (both positive and negative) which have been raised by the women themselves during the course of their pregnancies. The analysis has been carried out using the women's own descriptions. The main psycho-social issues that have been analysed are considered under the rubric of the dynamic self, in the form of: identification with the pregnancy; the assessment of risk during pregnancy; and finally, images of the self and baby during pregnancy. The thesis focuses in-depth on the dynamism and complexity of women's feelings during pregnancy. In particular, it looks at the concept of being obstetrically 'at risk' by analysing women's contradictory and changing accounts of their feelings and concerns. The research also contributes to the understandings of the identities and preoccupations of pregnant women. The design of the study is longitudinal and biographic. The women kept personal documents in the form of diaries during their pregnancies, and also participated in four unstructured in-depth interviews (three taking place during pregnancy, the fourth taking place after birth). The methodological approach taken is based on a feminist research perspective, which emphasises the value of qualitative methods of investigation. The thesis explores the role of the researcher by examining the location of the researcher in relation to both the participants and the research area. The individual experiential accounts of pregnancy provided by the women are explored in detail using a feminist interpretative style of analysis (Stanley and Wise, 1993)

Differential Effectiveness of Provocation, Brainstorming and Emotional Mastery in Fostering Emotional Intelligence (EQ) Among Nigerian Adolescents.

While intelligent Quotient (IQ) has long been used as a predictor of student success, as the world enters the 21st century, research shows that Emotional intelligence (EI) is a better predictor of success than the more traditional measures of cognitive intelligence (Goleman, 1995). Emotional intelligence is defined as the ability to perceive emotions, to assist thought, to understand emotions and emotional knowledge, to reflectively regulate emotions, to promote emotional and intellectual growth (Mayer & Salovery 1997). McQueen (2004) suggests that EI is highly predictive of an individual’s general domains such as career performance

The Effect of Sodium Chloride on Beta-Hemolytic Streptococci

The drug of choice for the treatment of Stieptococcal pharyngitis is penicillin G. However, a common home remedy prescribes the use of salt-water solutions for gargling. Members of Beta -hemolytic streptococcal groups A, B, and C were isolated from the upper -respiratory tracts of patients diagnosed as having streptococcal pharyngitis. These cultures we:e obtained from HCA Greenview Hospital (Bowling Green, Kentucky) and used to study the effects of sodium chloride on the isolates. The minimum inhibitory concentration of sodium chloride was determined for each of eight hospital isolates. Croup A streptococci were inhibited at a concentration of 7.2% sodium chloride while Group C streptococci were inhibited at a 7.0% concentration. Group P streptococci were more resistant, and inhibition of growth occurred at 12.0% sodium chloride concentrations. Scanning electron microscopic studies showed no significant differences in the external structure of cells treated with sodium chloride when compared to non-treated cells. Despite the lack of changes in the external structure of treated cells, fine structural alterations were observed with transmission electron microscopic studies. Treatment of the cells with sodium chloride resulted in a condensation of nucleoid deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and some loss of ribosomes. These changes were followed by a dissolution of the cytoplasmic cell contents resulting in an intact cell wall with capsule. Other parameters such as the rate of growth, minimum bactericidal concentrations, DNA content and protein content of cells treated with sodium chloride were examined and compared to control cells

Legal Standing of Customary Land in Indonesia: A Comparative Study of Land Administration Systems

Prove of land ownership by customary land is generally unwritten, just a confession of the surrounding communities with nature sign boundaries. If land ownership cannot be supported by strong evidence, the land may be registered by someone else who has getting physically for 20 years or more in consecutively and qualified on Government Regulation No. 24 of 1997 concerning Land Registration. Proof of old rights derived from the customary land law is rationally difficult to prove because there are no written documents. Customary land law does not know written ownership, only physical possession continually so it is very prone to conflict or dispute. In order to develop land administration in Indonesia, the values of customary land law contained in its principles is expected to be reflected in the land administration so it can reduce land conflict in the community. The role of customary land law has a large portion of the national land law. The role of government or ruling is very important to create a conducive condition in the land sector. A land is not allowed for personal or group interests, its use must be adjusted with the condition and the characteristic of their rights so useful, both for the prosperity and helpful to community and state

Essays on corporate hedging, ownership structure and financial conservatism policies

Corporate hedging strategies are those risk management mechanisms used by firms to reduce their exposure to the risk of price movement in the financial markets. In Modigliani and Miller’s theorem, corporate hedging and corporate financing are irrelevant in a perfect capital market, as firms may not derive any benefit from them. In the presence of market imperfections, however, these two corporate policies become important and matter to the shareholder value maximisation objective because of the presence of taxes, financial distress costs, agency costs, and transaction costs. Thus, unless a firm has hedging strategies in place to reduce the impact of capital market imperfections, it may not be able to invest in valuable projects or meet financial obligations, which may lead to lowered firm performance. This may be so because without hedging, firms may, at some point in time, encounter variability in the cash flows generated by assets in place. In view of this logical implication, finance literature implicitly suggests that corporate hedging matters.This thesis investigates whether corporate hedging matters by investigating the determinants of hedging policy. It also examines the influence that ownership structure has on the relationship between hedging and corporate performance. The thesis goes further to examine why firms choose to adopt a conservative financial structure at the possible expense of shareholders. Thus, the thesis comprises three different empirical chapters.In Chapter 2 of the thesis, we examine the rationales for corporate hedging. The main objective of the chapter is to empirically investigate whether the incentives for corporate hedging under different macro-economic conditions – pre-financial crisis, during a financial and after a financial crisis, differ. In general, hedging theories suggest that the characteristics of an imperfect capital market such as the expected cost of financial distress, underinvestment problems, tax liability, agency problems and information asymmetry create incentives for firms to hedge in order to stabilise their cash-flow (Froot et al. 1993; Smith and Stulz 1985). To achieve the above-stated objective, the chapter examines two broad research questions. The first research question is: what are the incentives for hedging, in general? Second, we investigate if there are differences between the factors that make firms hedge in tranquil macroeconomic conditions and during a financial crisis. The first research question provides us with the opportunity to compare our findings with those of previous studies and the second question provides the main contributions of the study. The chapter considers that macroeconomic conditions are not always similar, as there may be three distinct macroeconomic periods: pre-financial crisis, during financial crisis and post crisis periods. Therefore we cannot treat the factors that induce corporate hedging during the three sub-periods as though they were homogenous.Using logistic models to analyse a sample of UK non-financial firms that are quoted on the London Stock Exchange FTSE ALL SHARE we present several important findings. First, we show that derivatives are commonly and increasingly used by non-financial firms, as we find that about 55 per cent of our sample hedged with derivatives in 2005 and this increased to almost 64 per cent in 2008. Second, the analysis indicates that leverage, capital expenditure, size and exposure to foreign exchange risk are firm-level factors that significantly induce corporate hedging decisions. Third, we find that the factors that induce corporate hedging activities in normal macroeconomic conditions are different from the ones that induce hedging decisions during a financial crisis. Specifically, the analysis shows that tax liability is significantly important to hedging decisions during a financial crisis period but not during tranquil macroeconomic conditions. In addition, our analysis reveals that factors such as dividend pay-outs, capital expenditure and the shareholdings of institutional investors, particularly investors with fewer business ties, significantly create incentives for firms to engage in hedging activities in the pre-financial crisis period; however, the influence of the factors on the decision to hedge is insignificant during the crisis.In Chapter 3, we investigate the implications of corporate derivatives usage by focusing on the interaction effects of derivatives usage and ownership structure on firm performance. Theories indicate that corporate hedging is a value-maximising strategy in the presence of the probability of financial distress, underinvestment problems, tax liability, agency problems and information asymmetry, as it would stabilise firms’ cash-flow to ensure they are able to cover operations and financial obligations (Froot et al. 1993; Smith and Stulz 1985). Using unbalanced panel data of U.K non-financial firms, over 2005-2011, we address the research question, how does the relationship between hedging and firm performance change relative to ownership structure? We argue that if ownership structure can be used by firms to reduce agency problems, then the value-maximisation effects of hedging on performance would not be strong in firms with a high ownership structure (managerial or institutional ownerships).The empirical analysis in the chapter reveals important findings. First, we find that there is a negative association between hedging and performance as measured by Tobin’s Q. Second, we find that the effect of hedging on the performance of firms with high board of directors (institutional) ownership is different from those with low board of directors (institutional) ownership. Specifically, we find that the effect of hedging on the performance of firms with high board (institutional) ownership is weaker than in firms with lower board (institutional) ownership. The analysis suggests that there is no performance benefit associated with the use of hedging. Last but not least, we observe that institutional investors that have fewer business relations with a firm (i.e., grey investors) actively monitor and influence firms’ decisions to make decisions that induce good performance, as we find a positive association between the holdings of grey investors and firm performance.Chapter 4 of the thesis investigates the factors that make firms follow a conservative financial policy despite the potential benefits of debt financing. More specifically, the chapter investigates whether corporate hedging plays a significant role in influencing financial conservatism policies. We emphasise that the optimal leverage level of each firm must be considered when identifying whether a firm is financially conservative or not. Thus, we estimate a leverage model that takes into account financial constraint, investment opportunities, asymmetric information and profitability, and thus identifies four different types of conservative firms, namely the low-leverage firms, nearly low-leverage firms, nearly zero-leverage firms and zero-leverage firms.Using a sample of UK non-financial firms over 2000-2013 in logistic regression analysis, our analyses reveal very important findings. First, in separate logistic regressions for the four different leverage conservative policies (low-, nearly low-, nearly zero- and zero-leverage policies), we find that the factors that make firms adopt the four policies are not similar. For example, underinvestment problems as measured by growth opportunities contribute to the conservative decisions of nearly low-, nearly zero- and zero-leverage firms but not to those of low leverage firms. Also, we find evidence that the percentage of firms that follow financial conservatism policies declines during the financial crisis, suggesting that leverage conservatism is pro-cyclical. Finally, we find that hedging with derivatives plays a significant role in leverage conservatism decisions, particularly low-leverage and nearly low-leverage policies. The findings of this chapter add to the growing body of literature that investigates leverage conservatism. Also, the chapter contributes to knowledge in the field of corporate finance on the importance of risk management.Overall, the analysis of this thesis provides new insight into our understanding of the importance of capital market imperfection in determining corporate policies including, corporate hedging, leverage and corporate performance. More specifically, the study reveals that firms that are susceptible to financial distress, tax liability, underinvestment problems and agency problems are more likely to engage in hedging activities during a financial crisis. In addition, the study reveals that the role of corporate hedging in performance may be insignificant in those firms that have in place mechanisms that may work in similar ways to corporate hedging. This is because as far as ownership structure reduces the impact of capital market imperfection on performance by mitigating agency problems, hedging may not be necessary. Similarly, since hedging may be costly, the impact of hedging on performance may be negative, as the market may perceive the activity unfavourably. Further, in the light of capital market imperfection, the findings of this study provide plausible evidence that hedging matters in deciding whether firms would be conservatively levered or not, as hedging firms would not find it difficult to issue debt

RELEVANCE OF ONLINE SOCIAL NETWORKING IN THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE IN NIGERIA UNIVERSITIES

Web-based social networking tools are growing in leaps and bounds and are also popular among adolescent learners. As a result many educators the world over are considering how these tools can be used to enhance online learning and thereby motivate learners to learn and consequently better students’ learning outcomes. This paper investigates the relevance of online social networking media in English as a Second Language in Nigerian Universities. The researcher is the English class teacher, thereby making this study an example of action research. A researcher-designed questionnaire was used to gather data from 200 university undergraduates of Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko, Ondo State, Nigeria. The findings revealed that facebook could serve as an online environment for teaching the two crucial language skills of reading and writing, also be used to enhance confidence in English communication skills. Consequent upon these findings, it is recommended that University undergraduates should use facebook potentials for academic excellence. The implications of the findings were also discussed and recommendations made