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The overall aim of this study is to clarify the situation in school for children with language disorder from the parents’ perspective. Data were collected through five interviews with parents who have children of different ages and with various diagnosis within the language disorder spectra. A qualitative method based on a narrative inquiry was used and each interview was based on a interview guide with the following themes: the child’s difficulties, starting school, the school’s pedagogy, homework, action plans, participation and the future. Each story has its own themes, but there are also themes that are common in all interviews. One common theme in the parents’ stories is that school has a lack of knowledge when it comes to language disorder. The parents’ stories also centre on the experience of having a child with language disorder and on the extra pressure that this entails. Another shared theme is their worries about how their children will manage school and the school’s failure to take this concern seriously enough. Reading skills is an area where the parents experience that their children have difficulties. Additional subject-specific research is needed to provide school with the right tools to help children with language disorder to perform in school.

This study employs the method of linear regression to examine the competition behavior of TV console industry in the North America market and affection of the TV console developer¡¦s action on the competitors¡¦ sales volume share in the same month. The data only include the hardware and software sales volume of the main competitors-PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii in this generation and their action after publicly announcing. Main findings of research show that price reduction, console improving and releasing big titles have influence upon the sales volume of opponents. The influence of price reduction action is related to the position of TV console: PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 have a similar position and their action will affect each other, but the console of different position ¡V Wii not be affected. The action of console improving and releasing big titles apparently shows that TV console in similar position have more influence on each other.

Abstract Preparing for retirement is a complex task at which some individuals succeed while others do not, often with dire consequences. A model of investor behavior including retirement planning and saving is tested in a Taiwanese sample of full-time working adults. 134 participants completed a questionnaire about future time perspective, retirement goal clarity, financial literacy, retirement planning activity level and monthly savings contributions. Results indicated that FTP was a significant predictor of savings contributions and goal clarity which in turn predicted financial literacy and planning activity level. Financial literacy predicted planning activity level. No support was found for planning activity level as a predictor of monthly savings contributions. A three-way interaction with FTP, financial risk tolerance and financial knowledge as predictors of savings contributions was approaching significance, but small sample size likely limited statistical power. Path analysis shows some support for a model of retirement planning proposed by Hershey (2004) though data do not fit models previously tested by Hershey, Jacobs-Lawson, McArdle, and Hamagami (2007) and Stawski, Hershey and Jacobs-Lawson (2007). Instead a new model of retirement planning and savings contributions is proposed. However it is likely that savings norms affect contributions such that those who do not plan for retirement do not save at a rate lower than those who do. It is also likely that those who do plan for retirement invest rather than save disposable income. Keywords: retirement planning, personality, future time perspective, financial planning, financial literacy

In the era of knowledge economy, more and more people view online communities of practice (CoPs) as wellspring of precious knowledge. Interestingly, many researchers support the notion that CoPs must develop over time; they are not designed or made but grown, however, there is no systematic theory of online community development (Matzat, 2003). Furthermore, when changes with time are specialized concerned, several questions regarding CoPs development remain unanswered. Since online CoPs are formed by groups of people, existing group development models may provide valuable lens for us to understand the driving forces behind. Nevertheless, drawn on the autotrophic and open system of online CoPs, there exist several differences between traditional groups and online CoPs, such as self-select membership, high member fluidity, impossible to know all members in a large member base, unlimited life spans, and no given tasks have to complete. Furthermore, some defects in prior group development studies are also identified. To answer the research question and avoid problems identified in prior group development studies, this study plans to conduct a longitudinal exploratory study on three online CoPs lasting at least three years by overcoming the defects of unreal subjects such as experimental student groups or arranged tasks. Besides, three years of longitudinal study may prevent from the bias drawn from single snapshot and limited life span. Furthermore, we decide to adopt the ecological perspective for several reasons: First, the evolutionary process is akin to the central theme of ecological theory. Therefore the mechanisms of change can be suitably inferred from ecological perspective. Moreover, the ecological perspective is more holistic and macroscopic, and accordingly the problem of high individual member fluidity can be easily tackled. Second, many ecological concepts are used in numerous CoPs-related literatures to describe CoPs. In addition, being immersed in some CoPs for several years, we found that members usually use some ecological terms to describe their CoPs or other members. Third, several studies indicated that the ecological approach provides a powerful framework for understanding complex human social issues. We view each CoP as an ecosystem because ecosystem is the lowest level in the ecological hierarchy that is complete with all the necessary components for function and survival over the long term. This research also adopts the multiple case study approach. Firstly, online CoPs are categorized based on group member interaction statistics. Three categories of online CoPs are identified and three online CoP belonging to these three categories, respectively, are selected as representative cases. Every six months the aggregated data of targeted online CoPs are treating as the unit of analysis. The whole 'lives' of online CoPs under study are analyzed, by the way to avoid the problems of zero-history groups and drawn bias conclusion from observation of groups over different time periods. We attempted to detect and analyze the changes of community structures in the ecosystem using social network analysis tools. Moreover, since quantitative data may fail to capture some interaction modes, this study employs content analysis and semi-structural interviews as complementary vehicles to gain insights into the detailed evolutionary process. Finally, this dissertation follows Yin's (1994) analytic strategy of descriptive framework, and thus uses the metaphor of an ecosystem to integrate and organize sets of dimensions in relation to the evolutionary process of online CoPs. Drawn on Odum¡¦s (1971, 1983, 1993) model of ecosystem, this study proposes a descriptive framework based on ecosystem ecology and network analysis. There are primarily three components: organisms, energy, and nutrients; three types of connections: interactive network, keystone structure, and roles distribution. There are also five categories of constraints on the ecosystem functioning. They serve as dimensions of describing changes within an ecosystem over time. Further, these changes are interpreted from ecological perspectives, where insights into the mechanism governing the development process are generated to postulate the development model of online CoPs.

Lots of literature discusses IS/IT adoption or diffusion. However, few studies focus on the initiation stage of organizational innovation process. The entrance of organizational innovations issues into agenda represents legitimation and it influences further organizational action. Therefore, this study empirically testified the factors affecting organizational discussion frequency of knowledge management project issues, controlling for the size of knowledge management scope definition. The results showed that the characateristics of knowledge management project issues and the existence of sponsors had significant impact on the issue discussion frequency about knowledge management. However, the institutional pressures did not demonstrate significant impact on the issue discussion frequency or show great influence on the issue characteristics. Neither did the organizational strategy demonstrate its impact on knowledge management project issues. Theoretically, this study is built based on perspectives of agenda building and institutional perspective, and provides more complete model to explain the discussion of organizational innovation issues. For practical knowledge management proponents who attempt to initiate knowledge management in organizations, they need to understand how knowledge management issue is placed into agenda for organizational legitimating.

This research, based on the perspective of dynamic resources-based view, probes into strategies taken by the six local newspapers (the China Times, the United Daily News, the Liberty Times, the Apple Daily, the Commercial Times and the Economic Times) to response to the challenges in an ever-changing environment. They continuously review the established resources and deficiencies of the organizations and try to seek strategic alliances for complementarity and cooperation to create competitive advantages. This study adopts the methodology of case study. The researcher conducts in-depth interviews to gather firsthand information from the six newspapers and add up some related literature to process secondhand analysis. The result shows strategic alliance is not a stiff relationship but a dynamic process that continuously adjusts to factors such as the environment, the organizational life circle and the competitive strategies. Corporate view points about resources, that is advantageous competitiveness, is by the same token never static. On the contrary, companies will keep modifying and deploying resources to maintain the competitive advantages or to create new advantages. Strategic alliance is one of the critical means through which an enterprise can acquire resources and create satisfactory results at the same time.

国立情報学研究所で電子化したコンテンツを使用している。

Time perspective, as measured with the Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory (ZTPI), has been empirically linked to many behaviors including health behaviors, time spent with family and friends, and career decisions. This dissertation research builds on investigations of time perspective by testing hypotheses about the relationship between each of Zimbardo’s five time perspectives with residual time allocation, recreation experience preferences, and health and life satisfaction. Using a short questionnaire and time diary data, the relationship between how individuals frame time in the present, past, or future and how they allocate their discretionary time is described. Findings provide the foundation for continued study of the relationship of time perspective and recreation. Next, the relationship between an individual’s time perspective and the benefits they seek from recreation are identified. Using results from a selfadministered mail questionnaire, hypotheses about the benefits sought by adults with different time perspectives are tested. Finally, results from the mail questionnaire are again used to test hypotheses about the relationship between time perspective, physical health, psychological health and life satisfaction. Findings provide information about the impact of different time perspectives on individual wellness and happiness. Moreover, results provide a tool for targeting adults in need of leisure education. In summary, this study provides a starting point for the use of time perspective in leisure research. Much replication, extension and application research will be required to extend findings from current results using student and general population samples. The dissertation is organized in four sections. An introductory section presents the theoretical orientation for research. The second, third, and fourth sections explicate the relationship of Zimbardo’s five time perspectives with residual time allocation, benefits sought from recreation, and health and life satisfaction.

<p>Ungefär 200 personer insjuknar årligen i sjukdomen amyotrofisk lateralskleros (ALS), vilket ses som en ökning de senaste 30 åren. Att insjukna i en obotlig sjukdom bidrar till både fysiskt och psykiskt lidande. Det är viktigt att förstå patienters upplevelser av sjukdomen vilket det saknas information om. Syftet var att utifrån självbiografier, beskriva patienters upplevelser av att leva med ALS. En kvalitativ innehållsanalys beskriven av Lundman och Hällgren Graneheim gjordes. Datamaterialet bestod av sju självbiografier. Ur datamaterialet urskiljdes patienters känslor och upplevelser kring sjukdomen ALS i form av sex kategorier med tillhörande underkategorier. Kategorierna som framkom var; svårigheter kring den begynnande sjukdomen, tankar kring döden, sorg, bristande självkänsla, att känna sig utlämnad och att få insikt i sin sjukdom. Informanternas beskrev upplevelserna olika eftersom det fanns variationer av varje individs sjukdom. Att slutligen kunna se positiva stunder trots sin sjukdom var betydande. Ingen vet bättre än patienten själv hur den mest uppskattade omvårdnaden kan ges. Därför är det av vikt att lyssna på patienters upplevelser och deras egen berättelse av den upplevda sjukdomen. Erfarenheterna av sjukdomen var av olika karaktär men likheter kunde ses där många upplevelser var återkommande hos de flesta informanterna.</p> / <p>About 200 persons become ill annually with the illness amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), which can be seen as an increase in the last 30 years. Falling ill in an incurable illness contributes to both physical and psychological suffering. It is important to understand the patient’s experiences of the illness and this is a field where there is little or no information available. The aim of this study was to describe the patients’ experiences of living with ALS from autobiographies. A qualitative content analysis described by Lundman and Hällgren Graneheim was performed. The data material consisted of seven autobiographies. From the data material patient’s feelings and experiences of the illness ALS was discerned in terms of six categories with associated subcategories. The categories were; difficulties of the emerging illness, thoughts about death, sadness, lack of self esteem, to feel deserted and to reach insight into their own illness. The informants described experiences differently due to individual variations of illness. To eventually be able to see positive moments despite the illness was significant. No one knows better than the patient how the most appreciated nursing care should be. Therefore it is of importance to listen to patients’ own experience of the illness. The experiences of the illness varied but similarities could be seen where many experiences were recurrent among most informants.</p>