Despite the evident advantages of assistive technologies, many are still abandoned within the first few months of use. The key to changing this may lie in the assessment process, which has been described as the most consequential phase in the provision of assistive technology [14]. The purpose of this research was to create a protocol for the assessment and delivery of individualized access technologies based on the concepts of response efficiency theory. The protocol was applied with three children, ages 12 to 14, who were seeking new access technologies. The results suggest that a protocol based on this theory will result in a technology that is appropriate to the user, and as a result will be less likely to be abandoned and will contribute to goal achievement and potentially improve participation.

Darbo tikslas – įvertinti studijų kokybės lygį Šiaulių Universiteto Socialinių mokslų fakultete absolventų nuomone. Tai tęstinis projekto “Studijų kokybės plėtotė regioniniame Šiaulių Universitete��� tyrimas. Jo metu vertinta Šiaulių universiteto Socialinių mokslų fakulteto studijų kokybė, ir gauti rezultatai lyginti su projekto metu gautais rezultatais. Šio darbo metu buvo išanalizuota mokslinė literatūra studijų kokybės klausimu, suformuotas studijų kokybės apibrėžimas, bei komponentai. Iš dalies patvirtintos dvi hipotezės. Nustatyta, kad ankstesniais metais baigusieji studijas šiame fakultete vertina geriau, ir kad universiteto suformuota studijų kokybės plėtotės kryptis atitinka Socialinių mokslų fakulteto kryptį. / The goal of this work is to make assessment of studying quality in Šiauliai University Social Science faculty. This research is the continues work of the project „The development of studying quality at Regional Šiauliai University“. It has been assessed the studying quality at Social Science faculty and the results compared with the ones of the project. It has been analized the scientific literature about studying quality, and has been determined the definition of studying quality and it‘s dimensions. It has been partly proved two hipotezes. It has been determened that the graduates of earlier years assessed the quality higher, and also that development of University studying quality matches the tendency of Social Science faculty studying quality.

Magistro darbe yra išanalizuoti ir susisteminti įvairių Lietuvos ir užsienio autorių teoriniai inovatyvios įmonės sampratos ir veiklos efektyvumo ekonominės analizės metodologiniai aspektai. Išsamiai analizuojama inovatyvios įmonės UAB „EKSPLA“ veikla, atliekant tradicinę inovatyvios įmonės finansinės būklės analizę bei palyginant gautus rodiklius su šakos rodikliais. Atliekami inovatyvios įmonės projekto rodiklių skaičiavimai bei įvertinama įmonės sukuriama pridėtinė vertė bei sukurtoji vertė diskontuotų srautų metodu. Pateikiamas inovatyvios įmonės veiklos efektyvumo matas ir suformuojama inovatyvaus verslo kompleksiška vertinimo strategija. Patvirtinama autoriaus suformuluota mokslinio tyrimo hipotezė, kad inovatyvios įmonės sukurta vertė įvertinta tiek diskontuota EVA, tiek DCF modeliu yra tolygi. / In the Master’s work, there’s analyzed and systematized various Lithuanian and foreign authors’ literature, in order to represent the concept of innovative company and to propose the economic assessment for innovative companies. The innovative companies “EKSPLA” data were analyzed according conventional financial analysis theory, the results were compared with the other companies’ data working in the same economic branch. The assessments of project economical effectiveness, economic value added (EVA) and discounted cash flows (DCF) are done as further deeper analysis of effectiveness. According analysis, the author suggests the strategy of innovative company’s effectiveness valuation and creates the effectiveness index for innovative companies. The formulated hypothesis that the effectiveness analysis done by the EVA and DCF methods are the same has been approved.

No description available.

Assessment of human exposure to environmental chemicals is inherently subject to uncertainty and variability. There are data gaps concerning the inventory, source, duration, and intensity of exposure as well as knowledge gaps regarding pharmacokinetics in general. These gaps result in uncertainties in exposure assessment. The uncertainties compound further with variabilities due to population variations regarding stage of life, life style, and susceptibility, etc. Use of physiologically-based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) models promises to reduce the uncertainties and enhance extrapolation between species, between routes, from high to low dose, and from acute to chronic exposure. However, fitting PBPK models is challenging because of a large number of biochemical and physiological parameters to be estimated. Many of these model parameters are non-identifiable in that their estimates cannot be uniquely determined using statistical criteria. In practice some parameters are fixed in value and some determined through mathematical calibration or computer simulation. These estimated values are subject to substantial uncertainties. The first part of this paper illustrates the use of iteratively-reweighted-nonlinear-least-squares for fitting pharmacokinetic (PK) models, highlighting some common difficulties in obtaining statistical estimates of non-identifiable parameters and use bootstrap confidence interval to quantify uncertainties. Statistical estimation of parameters in physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) models is a relatively new area of research. Over the past decade or so PBPK models have become important and valuable tools in risk assessment as these models are used to describe the absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion of xenobiotics in a biological system such as the human or rat. Because these models incorporate information on biological processes, they are well equipped to describe the kinetic behaviors of chemicals and are useful for extrapolation across dose routes, between species, from high-to-low-doses, and across exposure scenarios. A PBPK model has been developed based on published models in the literature to describe the absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion of Dioxin and dioxin like compounds (DLCs) in the rat. Data from the National Toxicology Program (NTP) two year experiment TR-526 is used to illustrate model fitting and statistical estimation of the parameters. Integrating statistical methods into risk assessments is the most efficient way to characterize the variation in parameter values. In this dissertation a Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) method is used to estimate select parameters of the system and to describe the variation of the select parameters.

Despite the evident advantages of assistive technologies, many are still abandoned within the first few months of use. The key to changing this may lie in the assessment process, which has been described as the most consequential phase in the provision of assistive technology [14]. The purpose of this research was to create a protocol for the assessment and delivery of individualized access technologies based on the concepts of response efficiency theory. The protocol was applied with three children, ages 12 to 14, who were seeking new access technologies. The results suggest that a protocol based on this theory will result in a technology that is appropriate to the user, and as a result will be less likely to be abandoned and will contribute to goal achievement and potentially improve participation.

<p>Uppsatsen godkänd i Februari i år (2012). Glömt reg. i DIVA...</p>

In the USA, science teachers are challenged by the National Science Education Standards (NSES) to "select teaching and assessment strategies that support the development of student understanding and nurture a community of science learners" (NRC, 1996, p. 30). While standards do not explicitly refer to constructivist learning theory, they are entirely consistent with the view that knowledge is a human construction, learning is based on prior knowledge, and students respond to their environment to build new understandings. Paralleling the NSES reforms, with their constructivist underpinnings, there is also a strong and often contradictory pressure on teachers to prepare students for national and state standardised tests. The need for teachers to balance these competing demands while trying to teach for understanding sets the context for this research.The purpose of this research has been to focus on "how" teachers determine students' understanding and "why" they employ the instructional and assessment strategies that they do. Interpretive case studies of five teacher participants from one school district are used to describe how these teachers teach for understanding in the face of the competing pressures of conforming to the NSES and preparing students for success on standardised multiple-choice achievement tests. These case studies are analysed to identify common themes and propositions about teaching for understanding.The teachers in this study used a variety of instructional and assessment strategies. Their choices of strategies made a difference in the degree of understanding that their students achieved. Frequently, the teachers' decisions were affected by their grasp of science concepts and ideas about how students learned. When teaching for understanding, these teachers preferred informal knowledge of student understanding to that obtained from standardised ++ / tests Although subjected to conflicting pressures regarding how teachers were able to disregard assessments that did not provide evidence of student understanding. This research has implications for the five teacher participants, myself as a researcher, the district as a whole and educators with an interest in implementing assessment strategies that foster student achievement for understanding.

Orientador: Silvia Cristina Mangini Bocchi / Banca: Carmen Maria Casquel M. Juliani / Banca: Elen Rose Lodeiro Castanheira / Banca: Ondalva Serrano / Banca: Célia Regina Rodrigues Gil / Resumo: O presente estudo teve como objetivos compreender o processo de trabalho dos membros da equipe multiprofissional da ESF segundo a perspectiva dos mesmos, propor modelos teóricos representativos de cada experiência e elaborar uma metassíntese a partir dos modelos teóricos emersos das experiências, resultando em um metamodelo. Trata-se de um estudo qualitativo orientado pela Teoria Fundamentada nos Dados, denominada internacionalmente por Grounded Theory e pelo Metaestudo como referenciais metodológicos, tendo como referencial teórico a Teoria da Complexidade. Os dados foram coletados por meio de entrevista não diretiva, gravada e transcrita na íntegra, com 54 profissionais de saúde, membros da equipe multiprofissional da ESF, composta por Médicos, Enfermeiros, Cirurgiões Dentistas, Auxiliares de Cirurgião Dentista, Auxiliares de Enfermagem e Agentes Comunitários de Saúde, de um município do interior paulista, no período entre fevereiro e março de 2008. Da análise das experiências dos grupos amostrais, emergiram seis categorias centrais, respectivamente, a saber: entre o declínio e o fortalecimento do vínculo médico-ESF: a reciprocidade médico-equipe-comunidade como componente interveniente na resignificação da práxis; do entusiasmo à desmotivação: o apoio da gestão municipal na materialização da consulta de enfermagem como instrumento da visibilidade do enfermeiro; do ideal a materialização da assistência odontológica preventiva junto a ESF; do consultório para a ESF: conquistando reconhecimento social e resignificando a vida ao vivenciar na práxis a promoção e prevenção da saúde bucal materno-infantil; do ideal à ilusão: a dimensão político-administrativa do gestor municipal como componente interveniente na consecução da ESF; do sonho à frustração com a ESF: a reciprocidade ACS - comunidade como componente interveniente... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: This study aimed at understanding the work process of an ESF multiprofessional team members according to their own perspectives, at proposing representative theoretical models for each experience and at performing a meta-synthesis based on the theoretical models emerging from the experiences, thus resulting in a meta-model. It is a qualitative study guided by the Grounded Theory and by the Meta-Study as methodological frameworks, and based on the Complexity Theory as a theoretical framework. The data were collected by means of non-directive interviews with 54 health care professionals who were members of the ESF multiprofessional team, comprising Physicians, Nurses, Dentists, Dental Auxiliaries, Nursing Auxiliaries and Community Health Agents in a city in inner São Paulo state. The interviews, performed from February to March 2008, were taped and fully transcribed. Six core categories emerged from the analysis of the experiences reported by the sampled groups, namely: between the decline and the strengthening of the physician-ESF tie: the physician-team-community reciprocity as an intervenient component in praxis re-signification; from enthusiasm to discouragement: the support from municipal management in the materialization of nursing consultation as an instrument of nurses' visibility; from the ideal to the materialization of preventive dental care in the ESF; from the medical office to the ESF: achieving social acknowledgment and re-signifying life when experiencing child and maternal oral- health promotion in practice; from the ideal to illusion: the political and administrative dimension of the municipal manager as an intervenient component in ESF consecution; from dream to frustration about the ESF: the ACS-community reciprocity as an intervenient component. From the meta-synthesis of these models there emerged a representative metamodel for the ESF team's work experience... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Doutor

Le terme de care est devenu, ces dernières années, de plus en plus populaire dans divers domaines comme l’éducation, la sociologie ou la politique. Historiquement, la notion du prendre soin, du care, a toujours été attachée à la fonction infirmière. Les premières mentions au concept datent des années 1970 aux USA et ont donné suite à de nombreux travaux, écrits et définitions. Cette thèse en Sciences de l’Éducation s’intéresse à la mobilisation de gestes professionnels liés au care dans l’exercice professionnel d’infirmiers libéraux en milieu rural. La question de recherche en est : en situation réelle de travail, quels gestes professionnels liés au care les infirmiers libéraux mobilisent-ils et sur quels types de savoirs professionnels s'appuient-ils ?L’ambition, à travers la recherche menée, a un double enjeu. Dans un premier temps, il s’agit d’identifier les gestes professionnels liés au care afin de les rendre visibles et de questionner leur éventuelle plus-value dans le soin. Dans un deuxième temps, il est proposé d’élaborer un outil d’analyse des gestes professionnels liés au care permettant de renseigner l’activité des infirmiers pendant les soins, et d’approcher les préoccupations des professionnels dans des situations de travail. Dans un contexte de formation, cet outil pourrait permettre l’analyse de situations de soins et d’y repérer la mobilisation des gestes professionnels liés au care. / The term care has become, in recent years, increasingly popular in various fields such as education, sociology or politics. Historically, the notion of caring, care, has always been attached to the nursing function. The first references to the concept date from the 1970s in the USA and have given rise to many works, writings and definitions. This dissertation in Education Sciences focuses on the organisation of professional gestures related to care provided by nurses in private practice in rural areas. The research question is: In real work situations, what professional gestures related to care do the private practice nurses mobilize and what types of professional knowledge are they based on?The objective, through research carried out, is a double challenge. The first step is to identify the professional gestures related to care in order to make them visible and to question their possible added value in care. Secondly, it is proposed to develop a tool for the analysis of care gestures in order to inform the activity of nurses during care and to approach the concerns of professionals in work situations. In a training context, this tool would permit the analysis of care situations and to identify the mobilization of professional gestures related to care.