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Background: Cartilage disorders affect millions of people in the United States alone, with effects ranging from poor skeletal development and joint pain to shortened lifespan and perinatal lethality. Many of these disorders have their root in defects of collagen, type XI collagen being among the most important. A mouse model of such a type XI collagen defect is the chondrodysplasia (cho) mutant. Mice homozygous for this null mutation in the Col11a1 gene do not express the α1 chain of type XI collagen. This results in a functional knockout of type XI collagen, leading to insufficient skeletal development and perinatal lethality. Objective: 1) To construct a transgenic expression vector designed to express a human COL11A1 cDNA in a cartilage-specific manner. This transgene will be used in future studies to correct the type XI collagen defect in homozygous cho mice. 2) To place the cDNA in an in vitro expression vector to be used for in vitro transcription/translation assays. Methods and Results: Through the relatively new approach of "recombineering", the coding sequence of a human COL11A1 cDNA was constructed from two cloned cDNA fragments. A copy of the cDNA was inserted into the pcDNA3.1 expression vector for in vitro transcription/translation assays. Another copy of the cDNA was fused with a genomic mouse α-globin fragment to provide a polyadenylation signal. The resulting cDNA/α-globin segment was inserted into p1757, the expression vector to be used for future transgenic studies. p1757 contains a Col2a1 promoter, a β-globin splice sequence and a Col2a1 enhancer. The cDNA/α-globin segment was inserted between the splice sequence and the enhancer. With the cDNA in this expression cassette COL11A1 can be expressed in a chondrocyte-specific manner in transgenic studies of the cho mouse model.

The TPACK framework is becoming increasingly pervasive in teacher education. Researchers and practitioners have been seeking reliable and valid ways to measure the constructs associated with the TPACK framework. This study describes the results of both an item review and the reliability and construct validity investigation of the scores from an instrument measuring self-efficacy for the constructs in the TPACK framework. Content-matter experts and the literature were used in order to perform the item review, while both an exploratory and a confirmatory factor analysis were performed in order to assess construct validity. Cronbach's alpha and Raykov's rho were used to assess the reliability. While the reliability was high, the validity was weak. Specific changes to the instrument were suggested as a means of improving validity.

Syftet med studien var att undersöka gymnasieelevers kognitiva konstruktion av idrott och hälsa. Undersökningsdeltagarna var 3 kvinnliga och 5 mannliga gymnasieelever, 16-18 år gamla. Deltagarna kom från 3 olika skolor i Malmö och var olika mycket aktiva i fysisk aktivitet utanför skolan. Kvalitativa intervjuer genomfördes och innehållsanalyserades. Resultatet visade att den kognitiva konstruktionen av Idrott och hälsa innehöll 4 dimensioner; Idrottsliga-, Kropp och Könsrolls-, Skolmässiga, och Sociala dimensioner. Resultatet kan underlätta förståelse, tolkning och analys av eleversbeteende under idrott och hälsa och utvecklingen av innehållet och genomförandet av idrott och hälsa i framtiden. / The objective of the study was to investigate the construction of Physical education(PE) in high school students. Participants were 3 female and 5 male high school students, 16-18 years of age. The participants came from 3 different schools in Malmö and differed in amount of conducted physical activity outside of school. Qualitative interviews were conducted and content analyzed. The result showed that the construct of PE was composed by 4 dimensions; Athletic-, Body and Gender-, Scholastic- and Social dimensions. The result can be helpful to understand, interpret and analyze students’ behavior during PE and, in addition, to develop the content and execution of PE in the future.

This exploration of the personal constructs of principals was intended to reveal the transparent templates they create and attempt to fit over the realities of their world. This study sought to go beyond externally imposed descriptions of the leadership behavior of principals by exploring their personal constructs to discover the meaning that principals ascribe to their leadership behavior in anticipation and interpretation of events. Kelly's (1955) personal construct theory provided the conceptual framework for this study. The research questions were addressed through qualitative inquiry. Data were collected in a process that began with full context elicitation, laddering, and triadic analysis, and proceeded to full grid quantitative analysis. Findings from this study may increase the awareness level in the professional community of the meaning that principals ascribe to their leadership behavior. It was recommended that results from this study lead to the development of a process that can be implemented in principal leadership preparation and professional development programs to develop more self-aware, productive, and effective principals (Petri, Lindauer, & Tountasakis, 2000).

Assessment Centers (ACs) are a fantastic method to measure behavioral indicators of job performance in multiple diverse scenarios. Based upon a thorough job analysis, ACs have traditionally demonstrated very strong content and criterion-related validity. However, researchers have been puzzled for over three decades with the lack of evidence concerning construct validity. ACs are designed to measure critical job dimensions throughout multiple situational exercises. However, research has consistently revealed that different behavioral ratings within these scenarios are more strongly related to one another (exercise effects) than the same dimension rating across scenarios (dimension effects). That is, results from ACs suggest that we are unsure of what these behavioral measures represent. Over the last three decades, researchers have sought to illuminate why same dimension ratings are inconsistent across scenarios. However, these investigations have been limited to changes influencing the source of the ratings (e.g., assessors, trained raters). No approach has been taken to change the structure of the AC. This study breaks with tradition and introduces a structurally different AC: A Day-In-The Life AC (DITLAC). A DITLAC structure is designed to mimic that of a normal day on the job. In the present study, the construct validity between a DITLAC and a traditionally structured AC is compared with the argument that the DITLAC will demonstrate stronger construct validity evidence. In several cases, this was found to be true.

Since 1970, high project failure rate and low user satisfaction has elicited research on users and their role in the process. It is believed that users' physical participation or psychological involvement in the development process can improve user satisfaction and/or system quality. Previous research treats users as a source of requirements and hypothesizes satisfaction to increase when requirements are fulfilled. However, inconsistent conclusions lead to confusion. Recently, a co-production concept has been proposed to understand consumer participation in product development process. In this reconceptualization, users, instead of requirement generator, should be part of the production. In this study, based on co-production concept, we view users as one knowledge source and study how knowledge can be coordinated through the co-production process. After collecting data from 97 system users, most of the hypothesized relationships have been confirmed. IS-user co-production has a positive effect on expertise coordination and, in turn, improves teamwork outcomes. The only relationship that is not significant is between "bring expertise to bear" and "creativity." Implications for practitioner and suggestion for future research are provided. Co-production was found to be a second-order construct comprised of multiple formative constructs. Higher levels of coproduction behavior were expected and were found to produce better outcomes of collaborative efforts. For future study, this relationship is expected to hold true when pairs of information systems developers and information systems users who have worked together on the same information systems development project are surveyed at the end of their projects (or just before it ends or recently thereafter).

В выпускной квалификационной работе анализируется образ инвалида, транслируемый телеканалами «Первый канал» и «ОТВ» за 2017-2018гг. Выявляются основные механизмы конструирования образа, а также изучается степень его влияния на отношение аудитории средств массовой информации к инвалидам. Результаты социологического исследования показывают необходимость формирования положительного образа инвалида в средствах массовой информации, который напрямую отразится на массовом сознании. Это будет способствовать ликвидации стереотипов и толерантному отношению к данной социальной группе. / In the final qualifying work, the image of the disabled person broadcast by the First Channel and OTV channel for 2017-2018 is analyzed. The main mechanisms of image construction are revealed, and the degree of its influence on the attitude of the media audience to the disabled is studied. The results of a sociological study show the need to create a positive image of a disabled person in the media, which will directly affect the mass consciousness. This will contribute to the elimination of stereotypes and a tolerant attitude towards this social group.

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