The purpose of the research was to investigate academic writing challenges faced by first year B.Ed. students at the University of the Witwatersrand in order to assist tutors support these students. One of the main findings is first year B.Ed. students find it challenging to move from school literacies to academic literacy, and thus they need to be ‘initiated’ into academic literacy. The findings indicate that students need assistance with reading the articles on which essays are based, with understanding what essay questions require them to do, with quoting and referencing from sources and with the ‘mechanics’ of writing. A further finding is that some students face academic writing challenges because they resist being initiated into academic conventions for several reasons. The study concludes with some recommendations to course designers and tutors including the recommendations.

Introduction : DevOps bridges the gap between the development and operations by improving the collaboration while automating the as many as steps from developing the software to releasing the product to the customers. To automate the software development activities, DevOps relies on the tools. There are many challenges associated with the tool implementation such as choosing the suitable tools and integrating tools with existed tools and practices. There must be a clear understanding on what kind of tools are used by the DevOps practitioners and what challenges does each tool create for them. Objectives: The main aim of our study is to investigate the challenges faced by the DevOps practitioners related to the tools and compare the findings with the related literature. Our contributions are (i) a comprehensive set of tools used by Developers and Operators in the software industries; (ii) challenges related to tools faced by the practitioners; and (iii) suggested recommendations and its effectiveness to mitigate the above challenges. Methods: we adopted case study for our study to achieve our research objectives. We have chosen literature review and semi-structured interviews as our data collection methods. Results: In our study we identified seven tools used by developers and operators which were not reported in the literature such as Intellij, Neo4j, and Postman. We identified tool related challenges from the practitioners such as difficulty in choosing the suitable tools, lack of maturity in tools such as Git, and learning new tools. We also identified recommendations for addressing tool related challenges such as Tech-Talks and seminars using complementary tools to overcome the limitations of other tools. We also identified benefits related to the adoption of such recommendations. Conclusion: We expect the DevOps tool landscape to change as old tools either become more sophisticated or outdated and new tools are being developed to better support DevOps and more easily integrate with deployment pipeline. With regard to tool related challenges literature review as well as interviews show that there is a lack of knowledge on how to select appropriate tools and the time it takes to learn the DevOps practices are common challenges. Regarding suggested recommendations, the most feasible one appears to be seminars and knowledge sharing events which educate practitioners how to use better tools and how to possible identify suitable tools.

Background: Multiple factors influence end of life care and can lead to barriers in the experience of care for patients and the delivery of care for physicians. It is vital to determine the possible challenges physicians may face in providing end of life care in order to understand and decrease these challenges. Objective: The purpose of this study was to identify and understand the different challenges physicians face in the provision of quality end of life care. Methods: First, a scoping review was conducted on five databases to gather knowledge on the current literature on physician-perceived challenges in end of life care. Subsequently, a secondary data analysis was performed from the results of a pan-Canadian study with 1 060 respondents on medical end of life practices to: (1) measure the frequency of physician-perceived challenges based on the last patient who died under their care in the last 12 months, and (2) assess the relationship between the challenges and the physician’s or patient’s sociodemographic characteristics. Results: The results of the scoping review on 40 studies identified ten challenges: physician’s characteristics, family issues, team conflicts, team and family conflicts, institutional and organizational factors, training and educational factors, religious challenges, ethnicity and value-related challenges, human rights issues, and language challenges. Results from the secondary data analysis revealed that 26.9% of physicians reported at least one challenge, such as family conflicts, in the provision of end of life care with the last patient who died under their care in the last 12 months. Conclusion: These challenges restrict quality end of life care. As such, targeted strategies should be implemented to mitigate these barriers to end of life care and improve care.

In the last few decades expatriation to East Asia and China in particular has become an important phenomenon investigated by research studies. Undoubtedly, expatriates face multiple emotional challenges during their stay in China, such as adjustment, cultural adaptation, work related difficulties, language barriers and family separation. The present study aimed to explore in depth the specific psychological needs of expatriates based on their personal subjective opinion from a Counselling Psychology perspective. A narratively informed Thematic Analysis design was used and conversational interviews conducted to generate accounts of the phenomenon of expatriation and the emotional challenges people faced due to a change of country and culture. Five main themes were identified and special emphasis was given to the subthemes which consisted the new and unique findings of the current thesis: I) Emotional Challenges: a) emotional difficulties, b) positive challenges, c) the challenge of the unknown and d) repatriation. As coping strategies, emphasis was given to a) social network, b) the importance of the family, and c) professional support. The issue of adjustment, which included three subthemes a) adjustment to daily life b) living conditions and c) work satisfaction was also discussed. The fourth theme, Personality, included two subthemes: a) Traits and b) Personal Development. The final theme was cultural differences, which included three subthemes: a) communication and interaction with locals, b) cultural differences at work and c) culture shock. The study found that emotional challenges have both positive and negative impacts on the life and well-being of expatriates. Common emotional difficulties identified were anxiety, distress, depression, loss, cultural isolation and loneliness, while positive aspects included working towards better professional and personal development. The study also identified social interaction as the main expatriate coping strategy and community counselling work was suggested as a form of support. Personality traits were identified as an important variable which can have a significant influence on emotional challenges as a form of coping strategy. A detailed account of the issues concerning adjustment to daily life was also discussed. Emphasis was also given to work adjustment as a coping strategy and cultural differences was discussed as a form of emotional difficulties. The contribution of the current qualitative research is discussed and further clinical interventions are suggested.

The purpose of this study is to examine the cultural and social integration process among Syrian refugees in the United States, and to what extent the direct and indirect challenges have played a role in the process of their social and cultural integration. The challenges include, but are not limited to, cultural conflicts, religious values, stereotypes, and English language proficiency. In order to investigate my research questions, interviews as a research methodology were used as a theoretical framework for this project to collect and analyze data. I conducted semi-structured interviews with ten Syrian refugees who currently live in the United States. These interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed in full in both Arabic and English by me. My data analysis investigated what the interviewees indicated about their processes of social and cultural integration in the United States’ society as refugees. Specific extracts were chosen because they served as rich materials to analyze and provide answers to questions in this paper. Findings indicated that Syrian refugees needed to overcome significant personal, social, linguistic, and psychological barriers and challenges in order to integrate socially and culturally in the United States’ society. Results showed that participants in this study adopted various “acculturation strategies”. Only three out of ten were socially and culturally integrated. However, acculturation strategies adopted by participants are dynamic and changeable overtime, so further longitudinal study is needed to examine their integration processes over a longer time.

Increasing numbers of student veterans in the United States are transitioning into a higher education culture that reflects major differences from the military culture. Higher education leaders need to understand what these students require and what will help them transition smoothly into higher education. The purpose of this quantitative case study was to understand why freshman student veterans stop attending community college temporarily or permanently. Schlossberg's transition model that includes the 4 concepts of situation, self, support, and strategies was used as a conceptual framework. The research questions focused on perceptions of student veterans and faculty/staff related to challenges faced by student veterans during their freshman year of college, as well as the support that student veterans need to succeed with their transition into higher education. Data were collected interviewing 8 freshman student veterans and 5 faculty/staff members at a local community college to address the research questions. Qualitative data analysis was used to identify categories and common themes in interview data. The findings from this study showed 3 themes: (a) mismatched environment, (b) leaders/mentors/friendships, and (c) veteran community and connections. The study findings may help reduce the number of student veterans who temporarily or permanently withdraw from community college and thus increase the institutional completion rates. Based on the findings, a 3-day professional development/training program was created that incorporates both online learning and face-to-face engagement. The project outcomes may lead to positive social change by increasing responsiveness to student veterans and removing barriers when transitioning into a higher education culture.

<p><p>The amount of electronics in vehicles is growing quickly, thus systems are becoming increasingly complex making the engineering of these software intensive systems more and more difficult. In particular, an architecture supporting the business goals is a prerequisite for successful design.</p><p>In this thesis two case studies have been made including three automotive companies with purpose to investigate the key issues related to real-world decisions when developing Electrical and Electronic (E/E) system architectures in the automotive industry.</p><p>The results show that many of the identified issues relate to non technical areas such as organization, process, methods and tools, and management. Examples of identified issues are the deficient understanding of the electrical system and software at management level, and the lack of a specific process for architecture development. To cope with these issues we suggest the following actions: Educate management, increase the use of structured decision making, improve the architecture development process, clarify responsibilities in the organization and clarify development strategies.</p><p>As a possible solution to one of the suggested actions we have developed a method to evaluate how new functionality is successfully integrated into an existing architecture. Themethod is a combination of the Architecture Tradeoff Analysis Method, ATAM, and the Analytical Hierarchy Process, AHP. The method firstly supports a structured way of listing system goals, and secondly, it also supports the making of design decisions.</p></p> / Business Oriented Concept Development of Electronic System Architecture and Platforms in Vehicles

Logistics has been an important part of every economy and every business entity. The worldwide trend in globalization has led to many companies outsourcing their logistics function to Third-Party Logistics (3PL) companies, so as to focus on their core competencies. This paper attempts to broadly identify and categorize the challenges faced by 3PL companies and discover potential gaps for future research. Some of the challenges will be related with the experience and information collected from interviews with two 3PL companies. / Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA)

Title: Immigrant Entrepreneurship - Case studies of challenges faced by immigrant entrepreneurs in a large and small Swedish city. Purpose: The purpose is to investigate if the challenges faced by immigrant entrepreneurs in Sweden differ between large and small cities. Method: Eight case studies, four in Jönköping and four in Stockholm of seven Asian and one Eastern Europe immigrant entrepreneurs in the restaurant business. Results: The typical Jönköping case and the typical Stockholm case are similar with respect to some challenges faced: a lack of finance, marketing and sales skills are key challenges, and language is not a strong challenge in either city. The typical cases are different with respect to whether or not working longer hours, high rent and administrative and regulatory requirement are challenges. Keywords: Challenges, Entrepreneur, Entrepreneurship, Immigrant Entrepreneurs, Immigrants, Jönköping and Stockholm

The complex nature of health care and medical educational organizations, their different primary goals (clinical service versus education), different organizational structures and the necessity for ensuring efficient and harmonious relationships between these two types of organizations create a challenging environment in which to provide effective medical education leadership. The calls for reform in both medical education and health care have added to these challenges.<p> The purpose of the study was to develop a framework of leadership for medical education and contribute to the literature on leadership in medical education, based on an analysis of the perceptions of key health education leaders in Saskatchewan medical education organizations at the national level in Canada.<p> The main objectives were the identification of core competencies, challenges and strategies for effectiveness in medical education with a focus on unique aspects of about leadership in the medical education setting. Multiple methods of data collection (individual interviews and an event study with components of focus groups interviews and short surveys) with subjects of varied backgrounds and at different levels of leadership in medical education were entailed in this study.<p> The data were collected over a period of 13 months (January, 2009 - February, 2010). The perceptions of 32 medical education leaders, stratified into first- (11), middle- (6) and senior-level (15) leadership positions, based upon the hierarchical position and the scope of the job, were obtained and analyzed. Quantitative data were analyzed through descriptive statistics. Qualitative data were analyzed for themes through content analysis.<p> The findings provide useful information on leadership competencies, challenges and effectiveness strategies in medical education. Leadership competencies included five domains including personal and interpersonal characteristics, skills for effective leadership, skills as an efficient manager, skills in medical education delivery, skills as a teacher and skills as a researcher. All leaders considered personal and interpersonal characteristics to be at the core of leadership; while skills in medical education delivery, and skills as a medical education teacher and researcher were considered least important. The senior-level leaders spent most of their time in activities requiring leadership functions (e.g., strategic planning and creating alignment) followed by activities requiring managerial skills (e.g., operational management). This distinction in the rank ordering of leadership and managerial skills was not obvious for the first- and middle-level leaders; however, most did indicate that they spent more of their time in roles requiring more managerial skills than leadership skills. Among the key competencies, essential at all levels, were effective communication and building and managing relationships. For the most part, the leadership skills were acquired informally with only a few leaders having undergone formal leadership training.<p> The leaders faced three types of challenges: personal and interpersonal challenges including effective time management and personal limitations; organizational challenges including those around structures and processes, organizational communication, personal and organizational relationships, creating engagement and alignment, managing culture and resistance and limited resources; and inter-organizational challenges including competing agendas and interests of stakeholders.<p> The context (societal needs, multiple stakeholders and health care reform), content (medical education delivery and calls for reform) and culture (e.g. professionalism, apprenticeship model of medical education, and the hidden curriculum) of medical education and inherent dualities and conflict require situated leadership skills and strategies. The main leadership theories and approaches helpful in practicing contextual leadership included transactional, transformational, and servant leadership. However, other theoretical approaches, such as moral leadership and learner-centered leadership were also useful. Effective leadership was considered to include personal and interpersonal strategies, strategies for becoming an efficient manager and strategies for practicing inspiring and effective leadership. Personal and interpersonal strategies included looking after self, seeking advice, consciously developing fortitude, allotting time for priorities and thinking and personal development. Becoming an efficient manager involved diligent delegation, appropriate organizational communication and managing priorities. Practicing inspiring leadership involved developing the structure and processes to achieve vision, providing hope, developing mutually valued relationships which were considered key to engagement, alignment, leading change and managing resistance, moving from power to process, using appropriate leadership styles, developing the art of leading change and managing resistance, proactively influencing culture and accomplishing the vision.<p> In conclusion, medical education leadership was perceived as requiring both effective leadership and efficient management. The practice of inspiring and effective leadership, however, appeared to be more an art requiring an alchemy of strategies than a simple matter of application.