Several studies have shown that the Swedish labour market for different reasons is characterized by ethnical discrimination and that people who have another cultural background than Swedish are being excluded. Most studies done within this area have been focused on why it is harder for immigrants to enter the labour market and identifying the contributing mechanisms for this phenomenon. Instead the aim of this study was to see how the immigrants view their own cultural identity and background and how they perceive that their cultural competences are being valued when they apply for a job. To examine this, the following problematic was used: How does a person who has been brought up with both the Swedish culture and another culture look at using this as a cultural competence when they apply for a job. Two different theories were then applied to analyze the problematic, Erving Goffman´s theory about Stigma and Norbert Elias theory about the Established and the Outsiders. To carry out the study, a qualitative method with interviews was used and 8 people from 6 different cultural backgrounds participated. The results show that if the knowledge that had emerged from a persons cultural background turned out to benefit that person in his or her work situation than that person was more likely to see cultural background as a competence. Although if the condition was the opposite then there was no need to see it or to use it as a competence. Therefore cultural competence seems to be useful in specific situations and in interaction with certain people or groups of people rather than being viewed as an overall, general competence. To accentuate cultural competence also proved to be difficult due to the stereotyped conceptions about immigrants that exist in society. The conclusion of this study is that emphasizing cultural competence can sometimes benefit a person although there is always a risk that it could lead to increased stigmatization.

Det mesta som är skrivet om bedömning i utbildningen gäller hur läraren i skolan bedömer elevens kunskaper. Däremot finns det inte så mycket studier om hur handledare bedömer eleven i det arbetsplatsförlagda lärandet. Då vi är blivande yrkeslärare och de elever som vi kommer att undervisa har en del av sin utbildning på arbetsplatsen kändes detta ämne intressant, aktuellt och viktigt för oss att undersöka. Studiens syfte är att undersöka handledarens strategier och grunder för bedömning av eleven i det arbetsplatsförlagda lärandet. Vi har utgått från den socio-kulturella teorin och har som datainsamlingsmetod använt oss av kvalitativa intervjuer. Våra intervjuer var halvstrukturerade, med öppna frågor och på så vis kunde respondenterna svara med egna ord. I resultatet har vi delat in handledarnas bedömningskriterier i tre områden som vi har benämnt yrkeskunnande, faktakunskap och personlighet. Det som framkommer är att det praktiska yrkeskunnandet och faktakunskapen bedöms efter de mål som skolan har fastställt att eleven ska kunna. Denna bedömning är formativ och handledaren utgår från sin egen kunskap och erfarenhet. Då yrkeskunnande som förtrogenhetskunskap samt personligheten ingår i bedömningen bedömer handledaren utifrån sin egen roll och erfarenhet, utifrån sin ”yrkesroll”. Yrkesrollen ingår i yrkeskunnandet. I resultatdiskussionen diskuterar vi hur komplex bedömningen är. Mycket av det som bedöms är den så kallade ”tysta kunskapen”. / Of what’s written about assessment in professional care education, at secondary schools, it is most written about teacher’s assessment, of the students in classrooms education and not so much written about supervisor’s assessment of students in workplace located learning. It is of big interest for us, as becoming vocational teachers in care education, because our students will spend a big part of their education, in workplace located areas. The aim of this study was to investigate the strategies of the supervisors for assessment of the students in workplace located learning and even so, what they base their assessment on. It is a qualitative interview study with a social-cultural theory approach. The interview questions were semi constructed and open, for the interviewed to be outspoken. The result shows three criteria of assessments that we found: Professional knowledge, knowledge of facts and personality. In practical professional knowledge and in the knowledge of facts the students are assessed by the supervisors from the goals of the school, of what a student should know. The assessments were formative and the supervisor based it upon her/his own knowledge and experiences, their “vocational role”. In the result discussion we discussed that the assessment is complex and most of the assessment is familiarly skills knowledge.

Syftet med denna studie var att belysa kulturell kompetens och dess innebörd för sjuksköterskan. Syftet var även ta reda på hur sjuksköterskan kan förbättra sin kulturella kompetens för att kunna ge en individanpassad omvårdnad i ett mångkulturellt samhälle. En systematisk litteraturstudie har genomförts. Till resultatet användes 12 artiklar som var kvalitativa och kvantitativa. Kulturell kompetens innebar för sjuksköterskan att ha kunskap om olika kulturer för att kunna integrera patientens kultur i omvårdnaden. Det krävdes medvetenhet och förståelse för hur den egna kulturen påverkade den enskilda individen. Lyhördhet inbegrep respekt och uppskattning av mångfald. Det framkom att trots sjuksköterskors användning av helhetssyn i omvårdnaden så är den kulturella kompetensen generellt låg. Sjuksköterskans kulturella kompetens förbättrades genom de erfarenheter som gavs i kulturella möten och genom att interagera med människor med olika kulturella bakgrunder. Genom utbildning kunde en kunskapsbas byggas upp. Skapandet av gemensamma arbetsmodeller och riktlinjer hjälpte sjuksköterskan att försäkra sig om att den vård som gavs var kulturellt kompetent. Studien visade att sjuksköterskans kulturella kompetens har betydelse och påverkar hur individanpassad omvårdnaden blir. Förbättring byggde på önskan och motivation att vilja bli bättre. Processen till att bli mer kulturellt kompetent startade under utbildningen till sjuksköterska och innebar ett livslångt lärande.

Three experiments were conducted to evaluate the relation between age, relative numerousness judgments, and summation in Western lowland gorillas. The findings indicated that most of the gorillas did not perform relative numerousness judgments until after specific training to do so. However, the gorillas did perform summation without specific training and an age-related difference was apparent.

With Chief Human Resources Officers in Taiwanese-based Enterprises as the study of objects, this paper applies Mr. Feng-lee Lin¡¦s (2009) ¡§The Perspective of the Resource-building Mechanism¡¨ as the Theoretical framework, and researching into its functional management model in China. The purpose of this paper is to see if this position, CHO, can bring up efficiency in areas of individual, employee, and organizational performance management, and the efficiency as a whole as well. Key figures were interviewed, secondary data were collected, applied, analyzed to get the following conclusions: 1. The functionalities of CHO in Taiwanese-based Enterprises in Mainland China include: People management, Things management, and Self-management. 2.The key elements of management functions are professional knowledge, communication skill, and self-concept. The three react upon each other, and have causal relationship between them. 3. Due to the complexity in environment, regulations and policies, CHOs in Taiwanese-based Enterprises in mainland China face more challenges in inter-cultural management, enterprise management staff mobility, the uncertainty in effectiveness of enterprise performance management system and quantitative mechanism.

Medical examination is the use of modern physical and chemical methods, laboratory technology, medical equipment for clinical diagnosis and treatment, provide a reference. In vitro diagnostic medical devices (IVD) known as the medical testing equipment in addition to early and accurate diagnosis, as well as effective monitoring of patient treatment. "Medical Technology" is a very professional industry knowledge and application of the medical laboratory is through the manufacturers to develop transferred to the medical practitioners, industrial and information technology improved rapidly in recent years, resulting in the medical inspection of product innovation; as knowledge economy era, the diversification of customer needs, business risk increases, more intense market competition, companies want to stand out in a competitive environment, it is necessary to construct their own core competence in order to create competitive advantage. Operators to think about how to find, identify the core competitiveness of the way, helping the enterprise training, consolidation, application and conversion of the core competitiveness in order to obtain sustainable competitive advantage. In this study, on the one hand through literature, to understand the definition of the core competence, type and resolution; the other hand, the AHP method, defined in accordance with the core competence of literature, characteristics, and characteristics of the industry of medical testing equipment industry made the questionnaire,expert questionnaire, and a successful visit to the case of high-end decision-making management of mid-level management and senior grassroots cadres of 20 experts, to discuss the company's core competence of medical testing equipment. According to the results: the core competence of the medical testing equipment industry in order (1) after-sales service, (2) professional and executive power, (3) high-end quality of decision making, (4) Product Marketing, (5) Management capabilities, (6) network capacity, (7) human Resource Management, (8) product competence, (9) organizational culture, (10) logistics Management, (11) Brand / goodwill (12) market coverage.

Traditional methods of oocyte selection for in vitro studies have proven inefficient with respect to achieving a level of predictability for competency. In this study, a novel method of oocyte selection was implemented that identified a relationship between oocyte morphological parameters (as defined by a ratio of a shape factor (SF) to average fluorescence intensity (AFI) and AFI, followed by in vitro fertilization (IVF) and in vitro culture (IVC) using the Well of Well (WOW) method to evaluate oocyte competency. Specifically, we used non-cytotoxic fluorescent molecular probes and multiphoton microscopy to non-invasively characterize spatial localization and functional activity of mitochondria, mitochondrial membrane potential (Δψm), and intracellular calcium activity ([Ca2+]i) using rhodamine 123, JC-1 and Fluo-4, AM, respectively in bovine and canine in vitro matured (IVM) oocytes. Comparison of morphological grading with fluorescence intensity yielded similar trends between all grades of oocytes for both species with no visually obvious, distinct characteristic staining that would permit classification of each oocyte as a specific morphological grade. Our studies confirmed that oocyte mitochondria were homogeneously distributed but primarily localized to the peri- and sub-cortical regions of the oocyte at MII stage for both species. Further, heterogeneously polarized mitochondria were localized to the peri- and sub- cortical regions of the oocyte for both species. In bovine oocytes labeled with Fluo-4, AM, levels of [Ca2+]i were either unremarkable, or very low and limited to the peri-cortical areas, just beneath the oolema. For canine MII stage oocytes, levels of [Ca2+]i were within the same range of AFI as bovine. Ranges of fluorescence intensity compatible for optimal embryo development for bovine and optimal fertilization for canine oocytes were 30-300 and 20-35, and 20-30 and 20-25.5 for rhodamine 123 and Fluo-4, AM, respectively. The optimal range for bovine oocytes imaged with JC-1 was 1.25-2.25 and <6 for canine.

The Hispanic population is becoming increasingly prevalent in the United States, facing not only many sociodemographic risks, but academic risks as well. A large number of Hispanics are entering school unprepared to learn. While the importance of school readiness for academic success and achievement has been established, research focusing on school readiness in the Hispanic population has been limited. Furthermore, while research has established the importance of social-emotional skills for school readiness, these have been insufficiently studied in this population in how they relate to school readiness. This study examined school readiness in Hispanic preschoolers and the impact of sociodemographic, cultural, and socio-emotional variables on school readiness. A total of 162 children ages 3 to 5 years old were assessed by a school readiness measure in a Head Start program in central Texas. Children were assessed during the first 45 days of school. Teachers and caregivers completed a social-emotional rating scale on each student’s social skills and problem behavior during the first 45 days of school. In addition, caregivers completed a questionnaire that addressed cultural and sociodemographic factors. The purpose of this study was to fill the gaps of the literature by examining factors that impact school readiness among Hispanic preschoolers. The goal of this study was to determine the extent to which cultural variables can predict school readiness and social-emotional competence, above and beyond sociodemographic factors. This study also sought to determine the extent to which social-emotional competence can predict school readiness above and beyond sociodemographic factors and cultural factors. This study hypothesized that cultural factors and social-emotional competence would have an impact on school readiness, above and beyond sociodemographic factors. This study used hierarchical regression analyses. Results suggest that cultural variables were not good predictors of school readiness or social-emotional competence. Sociodemographic variables were good predictors of social-emotional competence. In addition, social skills were significant predictors of school readiness. Results suggest that Hispanic preschoolers are not that unlike other preschoolers when it comes to factors that have an impact on their school readiness and social-emotional competence.

This thesis is a case study about the transformation processes for a petrochemical corporation in Taiwan during the last thirty-nine years (1965~2003). We adopted the Grounded theory as the research method to probe the relationships between growth and change for the case company. We had several interviews with senior managers. In addition, the public reports about the company are also collected, such as news and financial analyses on newspapers or journals. There have been four phases of company development that are divided by three changes. According to the findings in this research, it is concluded that most of the transformation or change decisions were based on the core competence. Therefore, the R&D capabilities that have been much emphasized by the company provide the speed and flexibility for the company to adapt the industrial dynamics. Another important factor is the vision of the executive managers. They make good decisions because they foresee the company needs for the growth associated with the environmental changes. Finally, we have found that the core technical competence plays the essential role for the corporate transformation. Enterprises should well recognize their cores and then develop proper business strategies. They should plan for changes and incorporate them into organizational process to establish a company¡¦s culture

The purposes of this study were to develop a mathematics achievement test for the seventh graders in Tainan based on the Grade 1-9 Curriculum, and to explore the difference in performance for variables of gender, tutoring, scale of school, public-private school and textbook version. The population of this study consisted of the eight graders in Tainan City. Three samples were drawn for this study: the first tryout sample¡]n=402¡^, the second tryout sample¡]n=455¡^and the norm sample¡]n=870¡^. The Mathematics Achievement Test for Seventh Graders developed by the researcher was used. The data were analyzed in two dimensions: 1. items and test with methods of CTT and IRT; and 2. the difference in performance for variables of gender, tutoring, scale of school, public-private school and textbook version with statistical testing methods. The results of this study were listed below: I. Item and Test Analysis: 1.Regarding the difficulty and discrimination of CTT, the average difficulty of interval scale¡]¡µ¡^of items was 12.14, the mean of percentage passing and discrimination were 0.58 and 0.52, respectively. 2.According to the result of the reliability examination, the Cronbach value of internal consistency was 0.85, the test-retest reliability indicated 0.86, the split-half reliability showed 0.86. 3.The evidences of validity about this test were well content-related, criterion-related, construct-related. As for the result of the validity examination, the content validity of this test was through experts¡¦ review and judgment. The criterion validity was based on significantly positive correlation of the monthly test scores for each school. The construct validity had established in two ways of the internal consistency and the different groups analysis. 4.Analyzing items with IRT, 3PL model, the mean of discrimination (a), difficulty (b) and guessing(c) are 1.23, 0.14 and 0.21, respectively. 5. DIF was present for the item 17 between gender groups. 6. The correlations of item difficulty values between IRT and CTT were 0.97¡ã1.00, the correlations of item discrimination were 0.21¡ã0.95. The correlation between ability parameters of IRT model and total score of CTT ranged from 0.98 to 1.00. The result of indices between IRT and CTT revealed high correlations. 7. This test established a percentile rank and T-score norms. II. Testing of the performance differences with significance level£\=0.01: 1.The student¡¦s performances were significantly different between gender groups, and the female exceeded male. 2.The performances of the students who accepted tutoring after school hours were better than the others¡¦ performances significantly. 3. The student¡¦s performances in the public and private school were significantly different, and the private school outperformed the public school. 4.The performances of the students in private school were better than the performances of the students¡]both accepting tutoring and not ¡^in public school. And in public school, the performances of the students accepting tutoring were better than the students not accepting tutoring. 5.As for the school scale, the large is better than the small, and the middle is better than the small at statistical significant level. 6.In the textbook version, this test found that the performance of student using the version Nani surpassed the performance of student using the version Hanlin, and the version Jenlin outshined the version Hanlin. Finally, based on the results and findings of this study, numerous suggestions for the practical use of the test and future researches were provided.