The Effects of Business Image on Customer Retention in Hotels in Eldoret, Kenya

The hotel industry cannot be successful without having loyal customers. Thus business image is an essential factor to help in retaining customer. The purpose of the study was: to find out roles played by employees in retaining customers, to explore the technology utilization used to retaining customer in hotels, to find out how image management enhances customer retention and to establish challenges faced by hoteliers in customer retention in hotels. The study was conducted using explanatory design. Simple random sampling and stratified random sampling were conducted. Questionnaires and interview schedules were used for data collection. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and SPSS software. Data was presented by using bar graphs, pie charts and in frequency tables. The findings showed that top management and staff are involved in creating a positive image, use of technology provided quality services and quality services by the personnel improved the image of the establishment. Key words: Business image, Customer loyalty, Customer retentio

Measuring emotion regulation and emotional expression in breast cancer patients: A systematic review

The important role of emotion regulation and expression in adaptation to breast cancer is now widely recognized. Studies have shown that optimal emotion regulation strategies, including less constrained emotional expression, are associated with better adaptation. Our objective was to systematically review measures used to assess the way women with breast cancer regulate their emotions. This systematic review was conducted in accordance with PRISMA guidelines. Nine different databases were searched. Data were independently extracted and assessed by two researchers. English-language articles that used at least one instrument to measure strategies to regulate emotions in women with breast cancer were included. Of 679 abstracts identified 59 studies were deemed eligible for inclusion. Studies were coded regarding their objectives, methods, and results. We identified 16 instruments used to measure strategies of emotion regulation and expression. The most frequently employed instrument was the Courtauld Emotional Control Scale. Few psychometric proprieties other than internal consistency were reported for most instruments. Many studies did not include important information regarding descriptive characteristics and psychometric proprieties of the instruments used. The instruments used tap different aspects of emotion regulation. Specific instruments should be explored further with regard to content, validity, and reliability in the context of breast cancer

Measuring emotion regulation and emotional expression in breast cancer patients: A systematic review

The important role of emotion regulation and expression in adaptation to breast cancer is now widely recognized. Studies have shown that optimal emotion regulation strategies, including less constrained emotional expression, are associated with better adaptation. Our objective was to systematically review measures used to assess the way women with breast cancer regulate their emotions. This systematic review was conducted in accordance with PRISMA guidelines. Nine different databases were searched. Data were independently extracted and assessed by two researchers. English-language articles that used at least one instrument to measure strategies to regulate emotions in women with breast cancer were included. Of 679 abstracts identified 59 studies were deemed eligible for inclusion. Studies were coded regarding their objectives, methods, and results. We identified 16 instruments used to measure strategies of emotion regulation and expression. The most frequently employed instrument was the Courtauld Emotional Control Scale. Few psychometric proprieties other than internal consistency were reported for most instruments. Many studies did not include important information regarding descriptive characteristics and psychometric properties of the instruments used. The instruments used tap different aspects of emotion regulation. Specific instruments should be explored further with regard to content, validity, and reliability in the context of breast cancer

Measuring emotion regulation and emotional expression in breast cancer patients: A systematic review

The important role of emotion regulation and expression in adaptation to breast cancer is now widely recognized. Studies have shown that optimal emotion regulation strategies, including less constrained emotional expression, are associated with better adaptation. Our objective was to systematically review measures used to assess the way women with breast cancer regulate their emotions. This systematic review was conducted in accordance with PRISMA guidelines. Nine different databases were searched. Data were independently extracted and assessed by two researchers. English-language articles that used at least one instrument to measure strategies to regulate emotions in women with breast cancer were included. Of 679 abstracts identified 59 studies were deemed eligible for inclusion. Studies were coded regarding their objectives, methods, and results. We identified 16 instruments used to measure strategies of emotion regulation and expression. The most frequently employed instrument was the Courtauld Emotional Control Scale. Few psychometric proprieties other than internal consistency were reported for most instruments. Many studies did not include important information regarding descriptive characteristics and psychometric proprieties of the instruments used. The instruments used tap different aspects of emotion regulation. Specific instruments should be explored further with regard to content, validity, and reliability in the context of breast cancer

Valueworks: Effects of Financialization along the Copper Value Chain (Working Paper)

Based on two years of research in Zambia, Switzerland and China, the interdisciplinary research project Valueworks examined the supply and value chain of one metal, copper, across three countries, Zambia, Switzerland and China. Researchers, NGOs, civil society activists and one international organization aimed to map the actors involved and the "capture of value" along the copper chain linking Zambia to China. Our key interest was the role of Switzerland, host to the world's most important commodity trading hub, and its impact on lifeworlds along the copper value chain. While the social and environmental concerns are already well-researched for mining itself, Valueworks has shown that the service infrastructures of global extraction decisively influence the scope for sustainable development in mineral extractive countries. Mining is embedded into a wider landscape of services - transport, trade, financing, insurance etc. - in which decisions are taken that crucially affect the capacity of countries like Zambia to formulate and enforce policies. This global landscape is shaped by actors who span different countries and are able to move between different regulatory spaces. For all of them, financialization has become a global condition with which they have to deal; at the same time, their actions reproduce and reinforce dynamics of financialization. While the guises and consequences of financialization are manifold, one common thread is the increasing power of capital owners. This power translates into pressure for companies to perform in relation to indices; it changes the relation between 'physical' and 'speculative' trade; it shifts the power balance between workers and managers in collective bargaining agreements; and it further erodes the capacity of both Southern and Northern countries to effectively regulate their markets. While Swiss traders are responsible for a large part of the volumes being traded within the production network for copper, employment by the sector is relatively small. Nevertheless, Swiss traders' structural role in the global economy is huge, due to their influence on transnational trading networks, the pricing of copper and their role in facilitating financialization in globalized trade. This Working Paper offers policy recommendations for Swiss policy makers at regulatory, political, scientific and institutional levels

Production of Bioactive Volatiles by Different Burkholderia ambifaria Strains

Increasing evidence indicates that volatile compounds emitted by bacteria can influence the growth of other organisms. In this study, the volatiles produced by three different strains of Burkholderia ambifaria were analysed and their effects on the growth of plants and fungi, as well as on the antibiotic resistance of target bacteria, were assessed. Burkholderia ambifaria emitted highly bioactive volatiles independently of the strain origin (clinical environment, rhizosphere of pea, roots of maize). These volatile blends induced significant biomass increase in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana as well as growth inhibition of two phytopathogenic fungi (Rhizoctonia solani and Alternaria alternata). In Escherichia coli exposed to the volatiles of B. ambifaria, resistance to the aminoglycoside antibiotics gentamicin and kanamycin was found to be increased. The volatile blends of the three strains were similar, and dimethyl disulfide was the most abundant compound. Sulfur compounds, ketones, and aromatic compounds were major groups in all three volatile profiles. When applied as pure substance, dimethyl disulfide led to increased plant biomass, as did acetophenone and 3-hexanone. Significant fungal growth reduction was observed with high concentrations of dimethyl di- and trisulfide, 4-octanone, S-methyl methanethiosulphonate, 1-phenylpropan-1-one, and 2-undecanone, while dimethyl trisulfide, 1-methylthio-3-pentanone, and o-aminoacetophenone increased resistance of E. coli to aminoglycosides. Comparison of the volatile profile produced by an engineered mutant impaired in quorum-sensing (QS) signalling with the corresponding wild-type led to the conclusion that QS is not involved in the regulation of volatile production in B. ambifaria LMG strain 1918

Incentivos governamentais e demanda por empregos verdes nos setores público e privado do Brasil

O artigo discute os empregos verdes, isto é, àqueles que formalmente pretendem reduzir o impacto ambiental de empresas e de setores econômicos para níveis sustentáveis. O objetivo consiste, além da conceituação de empregos verdes, à identificação das empresas e setores da economia demandantes destes, bem como elucidar como a intervenção do governo estimula a criação desses empregos. O referencial pesquisado e fontes de informações foram extraídos de estudos da OIT (Organização internacional do Trabalho), do PNUMA (Programa das Nações unidas para meio ambiente), do IPEA (Instituto de Pesquisa Econômica Aplicada), órgãos governamentais capazes de informar os incentivos do Estado no fomento à criação de empregos verdes. A principal conclusão é que as empresas que quantitativamente mais demandam empregos verdes são as da construção civil, de energia e da agropecuária, respectivamente. Os incentivos governamentais, além de estimular à criação de empregos verdes via incentivos de políticas fiscais, concessão de benefícios e eventos, conta com uma intervenção de estímulo direto em que o próprio Estado demanda esses empregos.The present article discusses the green jobs, it is those that formaly intend to reduce the environmental impact of enterprises and economic sectors to sustainable levels. The objective is beyond the concept of green jobs to identify the companies and sectors of the economy of these applicants, and how government intervention encourages the creation of these jobs. The benchmark researched and sources of information were extracted from the ILO studies (International Labor Organization), UNEP (Program of the United Nations for the Environment), surveys of IPEA (Applied Economic Research Institute), government agencies able to inform the state incentives in encouraging the creation of green jobs. The main conclusion is that companies that require quantitatively more green jobs are the construction, energy and agriculture, respectively. Government incentives and stimulate the creation of green jobs through tax incentives policies, granting benefits and events, has a direct stimulus intervention in which the State itself demand these jobs

O desenvolvimento do pnae nas escolas públicas do município de Santa Maria/RS : uma trajetória inacabada?

A alimentação saudável dos escolares vincula-se à produção agrícola sustentável e às políticas públicas capazes de garantir o acesso a esses alimentos. Essa pesquisa tem por objetivo explicitar a situação atual do desenvolvimento do Programa Nacional de Alimentação Escolar (PNAE) nas escolas públicas do município de Santa Maria/RS. Os pressupostos analíticos abrangem os elementos teóricos da agricultura sociológica e a abordagem da segurança alimentar e nutricional (SAN) e alguns elementos da sustentabilidade do setor agroalimentar, por meio de entrevistas semiestruturadas e da aplicação de questionários estruturados aos responsáveis pelas compras institucionais. Conclui-se que as alterações operadas na legislação do PNAE vêm permitindo o avanço na construção de arranjos institucionais por uma participação mais efetiva dos atores sociais envolvidos na operacionalização do programa. Houve melhoria na qualidade dos componentes da alimentação escolar, porém ainda ocorrem limitações quantitativas e de regulação. Ao menos uma parcela de cada produto utilizado na alimentação escolar provém da agricultura familiar, o que denota que no caso do município de Santa Maria/RS observa-se menor vulnerabilidade no processo das compras institucionais, porém, maior necessidade de ampliar o potencial produtivo da agricultura familiar para suprir quantitativamente a oferta de alimentos saudáveis às escolas. Nesse esforço, as compras institucionais do PNAE poderão atender melhor os pressupostos do programa, isto é, melhorar a alimentação escolar e contribuir para a almejada sustentabilidade agroalimentar e o desenvolvimento rural.Healthy eating for schoolchildren is linked to a sustainable agricultural production and public policies capable of guaranteeing access to these foods. This study aims to explain the current situation of the development of the Brazilian National School Feeding Program (PNAE) in public schools in the town of Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul. The analytical assumptions comprehend the theoretical elements of sociological agriculture and the approach to food and nutrition security (FNS) and some elements of the sustainability of the agrifood sector, through semi-structured interviews and the application of structured questionnaires to those responsible for institutional purchases. It is concluded that the changes made in the PNAE legislation have allowed the progress in the construction of institutional arrangements for a more effective participation of the social actors involved in the operationalization of the program. There has been an improvement in the quality of the components of school meals, however quantitative and regulatory limitations still exist. At least a portion of each product used in school meals comes from family farming, which indicates that in the case of the municipality of Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, there is less vulnerability in the process of institutional purchases, however, greater need to expand the productive potential of family farming to quantitatively meet the demand of healthy food supply to schools. In this effort, the institutional purchases of the PNAE may better meet the assumptions of the Program, that is, improve school meals and contribute to the desired agri-food sustainability and the sustainability of rural development

Treosulfan-based conditioning regimen for children and adolescents with hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis

In hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis, high transplant-related mortality after busulfan-based myeloablative regimens has been observed. Conditioning regimens with reduced toxicity based on melphalan or treosulfan are promising alternatives. We retrospectively analyzed hematopoietic stem cell transplantations in 19 hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis patients after conditioning with fludarabine, treosulfan, alemtuzumab, with or without thiotepa. Overall and disease-free survivals were 100% (follow up 7-31 months). Two patients required second transplant (1 after haploidentical transplantation). In 6 patients, overall donor chimerism dropped below 75% and prompted donor lymphocyte infusions. Administration of donor lymphocytes or second transplantation were significantly more frequent after transplantation from a human leukocyte antigen mismatched (9/10) versus matched (10/10) donor (P=0.018). The toxicity profile was favorable, with one veno-occlusive disease, one grade 3 graft-versus-host disease after donor lymphocyte infusion, and 2 severe viral infections (1 influenza, 1 Epstein Barr virus). In conclusion, the treosulfan-based regimen in hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis is effective with low toxicity and gives excellent overall and disease-free survival rates. In the future, the incidence of mixed chimerism, particularly after human leukocyte antigen mismatched donor transplants, needs to be addressed

Treosulfan-based conditioning regimen for children and adolescents with hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis

In hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis, high transplant-related mortality after busulfan-based myeloablative regimens has been observed. Conditioning regimens with reduced toxicity based on melphalan or treosulfan are promising alternatives. We retrospectively analyzed hematopoietic stem cell transplantations in 19 hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis patients after conditioning with fludarabine, treosulfan, alemtuzumab, with or without thiotepa. Overall and disease-free survivals were 100% (follow up 7-31 months). Two patients required second transplant (1 after haploidentical transplantation). In 6 patients, overall donor chimerism dropped below 75% and prompted donor lymphocyte infusions. Administration of donor lymphocytes or second transplantation were significantly more frequent after transplantation from a human leukocyte antigen mismatched (9/10) versus matched (10/10) donor (P=0.018). The toxicity profile was favorable, with one veno-occlusive disease, one grade 3 graft-versus-host disease after donor lymphocyte infusion, and 2 severe viral infections (1 influenza, 1 Epstein Barr virus). In conclusion, the treosulfan-based regimen in hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis is effective with low toxicity and gives excellent overall and disease-free survival rates. In the future, the incidence of mixed chimerism, particularly after human leukocyte antigen mismatched donor transplants, needs to be addressed