Multiple-choice questions are acknowledged to be difficult for both English mother-tongue and second-language university students to interpret and answer. In a context in which university tuition policies are demanding explicitly that assessments need to be designed and administered in such a way that no students are disadvantaged by the assessment process, the thesis explores the fairness of multiple-choice questions as a way of testing second-language students in South Africa. It explores the extent to which two multiple-choice Linguistics examinations at Unisa are in fact ‘generally accessible’ to second-language students, focusing on what kinds of multiple-choice questions present particular problems for second-language speakers and what contribution linguistic factors make to these difficulties. Statistical analysis of the examination results of two classes of students writing multiple-choice exams in first-year Linguistics is coupled with a linguistic analysis of the examination papers to establish the readability level of each question and whether the questions adhered to eight item-writing guidelines relating to maximising readability and avoiding negatives, long items, incomplete sentence stems, similar answer choices, grammatically non-parallel answer choices, ‘All-of-the-above’ and ‘None-of-the-above’ items. Correlations are sought between question difficulty and aspects of the language of these questions and an attempt is made to investigate the respective contributions of cognitive difficulty and linguistic difficulty on student performance. To complement the quantitative portion of the study, a think-aloud protocol was conducted with 13 students in an attempt to gain insight into the problems experienced by individual students in reading, understanding and answering multiple-choice questions. The consolidated quantitative and qualitative findings indicate that among the linguistic aspects of questions that contributed to question difficulty for second language speakers was a high density of academic words, long items and negative stems. These sources of difficulty should be addressed as far as possible during item-writing and editorial review of questions.

Statistik visar att det saknas riktlinjer eller strategier inom många av Sveriges kommuner för hantering av ärenden gällande äldre personer med missbruks- eller beroendeproblem. Studier pekar på att det finns ett ökat behov av forskning, kunskap och utbildning för biståndshandläggare och vårdpersonal som arbetar med äldre personer med missbruks- eller beroendeproblem i Sverige. I syfte att belysa detta, genomfördes en enkätundersökning riktad till alla biståndshandläggare inom äldreomsorgen i Jönköpings läns 13 kommuner för att undersöka deras upplevelse av den eventuella bristen och behovet av riktlinjer och stöd samt eventuella skillnader i handläggning av ärenden gällande äldre personer med missbruks- eller beroendeproblem. Denna kvantitativa studie baseras på enkätsvar från 57 biståndshandläggare som deltog i studien. Data har analyserats genom rangkorrelationsanalys och jämförande analys för att undersöka eventuella samband och för att möjliggöra en kartläggning av biståndshandläggarnas upplevelser. Resultatet visar att övervägande delen av respondenterna upplever att det inte finns riktlinjer för hanterande av ärenden gällande äldre personer med missbruks- eller beroendeproblem och att biståndshandläggarna generellt vill ha mer utbildning och kunskap inom området från kommunerna. Resultatet synliggör även att biståndshandläggarna i stort sett hanterar dessa ärenden på ett liknande oavsett bakgrundsfaktorer. / Statistics shows that guidelines or strategies are missing within several municipalities in Sweden concerning handling cases with elderly people with abuse or addiction problem. Research points at an increased need of studies, knowledge and education for social workers and caregivers who’s working with elderly people with abuse or addiction problem in Sweden. In order to illustrate this, a survey was handed out to all the social workers working with elderly people in the 13 municipalities in Jönköping County to examine their experience and possible lack and need of guidelines and support concerning cases with elderly people with abuse or addiction problem. Possible differences were also examined regarding how the social workers handle cases concerning elderly people with abuse or addiction problem. This quantitative research is based on responses from 57 social workers, participating in the survey. Data has been analysed through correlation analysis and comparative analysis to examine possible connections and enable to create a map of the survey.The result shows that the majority of the respondents experience that there are no guidelines regarding how the social workers should handle cases concerning elderly people with abuse or addiction problem and that the social workers in general want more education and knowledge about the subject from the municipalities. The result also reveals that the social workers mostly handle this kind of cases in a similar way regardless of background factors.

The ongoinging demographic change will increase the demands on health care with an increase of old people suffering from long-term conditions in need of care. One way of meeting this increasing demand is to combine the use of modern technology and the involvement of patients by letting patients monitor their health themselves.  The use of patient-generated health data (PGHD) can benefit both patients and the health care and is an area that is being studied internationally. In this thesis work, two parts of the area of using PGHD in health care have been studied. First eleven professionals from the field of health care (both medical professionals, strategists and project leaders) were interviewed regarding their opinions on PGHD. They were generally positive to the phenomena and mentioned several types of measurements they found to be suited for PGHD. Among these measurement types were blood pressure, weight, blood glucose, electrocardiogram (ECG), peak expiratory flow (PEF), blood oxygen saturation and a variety of blood tests. The professionals found the greatest benets of PGHD to be the increased freedom and quality of life it offers to patients and the increased engagement to their own care it may lead to. The greatest concerns were related to technology problems and the patients using the measurement devices incorrectly. The second part of the work investigated how measurements of weight, blood pressure and ECG would be transferred from the device used by the patient to the electronic health record (EHR) in a standardized way. For the transfer being standardized, the study followed the Continua design guidelines (CDG), which are based on international standards and aim to achieve plug-and-play interoperability among health care devices and systems. This part of the study was carried out by studying the CDG documents as well as the standards to which they refer. The measurement data from the three device types were all described to be handled as numeric values, but in different formats. The weight is a single value, the blood pressure is a compound of values: systolic, diastolic and mean arterial pressure, and the ECG is an array of values. All measurement data is contained in a specic message together with additional data such as device type, device manufacturer, a reference ID and the date and time of the measurement. The data message is transferred from the measurement device to an application hosting device (AHD) with either a touch area network interface (using Near-Field Communications), personal area network interface (using USB or Bluetooth communication) or local area network interface (using ZigBee communication). From the AHD the data transfer chain continues until the data reaches the EHR.

Titel: Frivillighet under tvång? – Är ESMA:s riktlinjer om presentationen av alternativa prestationsmått befogade? Bakgrund: Den tredje juli 2016 träder ESMA:s riktlinjer om presentation av alternativa prestationsmått (APM) ikraft. Bakgrunden till riktlinjerna är att nuvarande reglering ansetts bristfällig eftersom företag haft möjlighet att presentera APM på ett subjektivt sätt till användares nackdel. Frågeställning: Är ESMA:s riktlinjer rörande presentationen av APM befogade med avseende på den reglering som finns idag? Syfte: Författarnas syfte med uppsatsen är att undersöka om nuvarande möjlighet till presentation av APM är i behov av ny reglering. Resultat: Det är författarnas uppfattning att ESMA:s riktlinjer är befogade och nödvändiga för att hantera den nuvarande problematiken avseende presentation av APM. Kunskapsbidrag: Uppsatsen bidrar med kunskap som bekräftar att presentationen av APM är i behov av ytterligare reglering. / Title: Volunteerism whilst under Regulation? – Are ESMA’s Guidelines Regarding the Presentation of Alternative Performance Measures Justified? Background: On the third of July 2016 ESMA’s guidelines regarding the presentation of Alternative Performance Measures (APM) will enter into force. Current regulation has been regarded as deficient and companies have had the opportunity to present APM subjectively to the detriment of users. Thesis problem: Are ESMA’s guidelines regarding the presentation of APM justified considering current regulations? Purpose: The purpose of the thesis is to examine whether current opportunities to present APM are in need of new regulation. Results: It is the opinion of the authors that ESMA’s guidelines are justified and necessary in order to handle the current problems of companies’ possibility to present APM. Contribution: The thesis confirms that the presentation of APM is in need of further regulation.

The overarching aim of this thesis is to probe more deeply into how col­laborative writing can help to socialise students in a writing practice. More specifically, the thesis deals with lab report writing and the relationship of three students with different backgrounds to the educational practices of a university department. The three students differ in language background, previous higher education and vocational experience. The material comprises recordings of student discussions while writing lab reports in a group. The students and their lab report writing in different group con­stellations has been followed longitudi­nally for between two to four semesters. In addition the development of the lab reports over time has been studied, as well as teachers’ comments on them. Student acquisition of the genre is linked to internal textual criteria (textual aspects) and to extratextual criteria in the educational context. In view of the study’s focus on group collaboration a socio-cultural per­spective has been adopted as a frame. A model developed by Storch (2002) based on Vygotsky’s role relationships between expert and novice is used to shed light on how the students resolve problems related to the writing task through group discussions. The results show that the students’ backgrounds play a role in the creation of their profiles in the collaborative writing groups. The student with a second-language background often seeks support, not least where linguistic correctness is concerned, and cites what teachers say as arguments. The student with prior experience of academic writing appears to be a seasoned writer, for instance by daring to deviate from instructions and teachers’ directives. The third student uses his professional experience of writing lab reports in discussions to gain acceptance for his ideas.

The work described provides the development, implementation and evaluation of engineering product design guidelines suitable for engineering product designers. The motivation arises from collaborative efforts that continue to be made by the Least Economically Developed Countries (LDC) and the Most Economically Developed Countries (MDC) towards the development of the engineering design field. It is argued here that product design guidelines which are derived from existing product design methods enhance the capability of engineering designers to shorten time to market, deal adequately with product design constraints and boost supply chains. The sample for the proposed study is comprised of companies in Botswana (a least economically developed country) and the United Kingdom (a most economically developed country). The research has been conducted using a mixed qualitative research approach comprised of aspects from the framework method, cluster analysis and Kolb's model. The findings have identified five themes central to the product design process which are incorporated into the engineering product design guidelines. Case study work was conducted to validate the approach. The following claims are made for contributions to knowledge: 1. A conceptual framework which is a graphical co-ordinate system of engineering and management techniques required by nine engineering product design methods. The conceptual framework is arranged according to two orthogonal axes that describe the structure of the product design process and incorporate the need function form structure, the divergent convergent structure, the product design drivers, product realisation process and product development lifecycles. 2. The product design method notation which is a register of the expressions derived from the conceptual framework and is used to communicate and aid in the selection of a group of techniques being implemented, or intended for implementation by design teams; and 3. The configuration scheme which provides a clear link between components, subassemblies, products, projects, programmes and policies. The critical point put forward by this work is that the conceptual framework is only comprehensible today because the engineering product design methods in the public domain have imparted knowledge about the functions of physical products (described here as part of the need function form structure) at the expense of human needs and the interactive forms of human responses to physical products. The contributions of this research provide a holistic and coherent means of integrating design methodologies for the benefit of design teams in Botswana. The approach is, however, universal and may also be beneficial for design projects in the most economically developed countries.

This preface is designed to provide insight for the reader into the reasoning behind choosing these specific pieces of work to make up the doctorate portfolio and why I consider them to be important pieces, contributing to my identity and competence as a counselling psychologist. This doctorate portfolio is comprised of a selection of completed work for the Practitioner Doctorate in Counselling Psychology for The University of Wolverhampton. It contains three dossiers: Academic, therapeutic and research. In a seperate document is a confidential attachment, which is separate to this portfolio as it contains confidential information. The Academic Dossier contains essays that were submitted for the modules 'Life-span Approach' and 'Working with Couples'. Received academic feedback for these essays are provided within the confidential attachment. The Therapeutic Dossier contains two essays that were written at the last stages of the three year doctorate course, reflecting upon my perceived professional development in the 'Professional Issues' essay and an exploration of therapeutic experience on supervised placements in 'Supervised Practice', over the last three academic years. A conscious decision was also made to not edit these essays for entering into the doctorate portfolio, as they can then ideally represent a growth in writing style and academic ability, which has occurred over the course of this doctoral training. Finally the Research Dossier is composed of several chapters, including a literature review, empirical study and critical appraisal.

The aim of the study was to investigate how Dalsland’s environmental office have managed the yearly reports on fluorinated greenhouse gasses and substances that deplete the ozone layer during the period 2007-2013. The environmental office’s methods, existing routines, present regulations and guidelines have been studied. The purpose of this report was to present suggestions on how the managing of these yearly reports can be improved, and to construct a document of guidelines for the environmental officers, that can be used to make the managing more efficient. The Environmental Office of Dalsland was established 1 January, 2007, when the municipalities of Bengtsfors, Dals Ed, Färgelanda and Mellerud merged their environmental offices together under a joint Environmental committee. The supervision concerning the yearly reports on fluorinated greenhouse gasses and substances that deplete the ozone layer, have varied and the organization within the environmental office have changed over time. There are areas where improvements are needed in order to insure that the auditing of the reports becomes more efficient. The operators should be offered more guidance and information about the current legislation and the demands these rules make on them. Internal routines need to be established on how to register the information that the reports contains, in order to make it easier to extract information for statistical purposes.

The Purpose of the study was to highlight the primary care managers' perception of the barriers and opportunities in the implementation of the national guidelines for harmful drinking and alcohol abuse in KalmarCounty. The data was collected by questionnaires which were directed to all primary care managers in the county. The response rate was low, 40%. The data collection was complemented at a later stage with a non-response analysis. To analyze the results implementation theory with following terms were used: wants to, understand and know. In this study, the managers response showed an ambivalence and the willingness to use the national guidelines were not evident. On the one hand, patients with for harmful drinking and alcohol abuse is a tasks for primary care, but on the other hand, it was considered to a greater extent to be social services responsibility. The understanding of the use of guidelines existed and primary care has a tradition of making use of the guidelines, however in this case the respondents lack education. The ability to implement the national guidelines seemed lacking, which may be due to increased tasks and radical changes involving time constraints.

<p>Den här rapporten undersöker vilken uppfattning och kunskap lärarna i förskolan har om naturvetenskap och hur den införlivas i praktiken enligt förskolans läroplan och lokala styrdokument. Syftet med den här undersökningen är att ta reda på: (i) Vad är naturvetenskap för lärarna i förskolan? (ii) Vilka mekanismer styr lärarnas planering och realisering av naturvetenskapen i det pedagogiska vardagsarbetet?</p><p>Material och data till undersökningen har samlats ihop genom kvalitativa intervjuer med sju lärare i förskolan.</p><p>Rapporten visar att övervägande delen av lärarna i förskolan ser naturvetenskapen som att vistas i skog och mark. Vad det gäller faktorer som påverkar planering och realisering av naturvetenskapen framkom det genom intervjumaterialet att det är: (i) Kompetens, (ii) förståelse av naturvetenskapen och dess innehåll och (iii) insikten av de styrdokument som förskolan lyder under.</p><p>Utifrån gällanden styrdokument i förskolan är naturvetenskapen ett kunskapsområde som bör lyftas och synliggöras i den pedagogiska vardagen. För att uppfylla dessa krav bör lärarna i förskolan öka sin kunskap inom denna vetenskapsgren.</p> / <p>This report investigates the perception and knowledge of natural science amongst pre-school teachers and how natural science is currently incorporated into the pre-school curriculum. The aims of these investigations are in particular to: (i) Establish what natural science means (and implicates) to pre-school teachers. (ii) Identify factors that influence planning and implementation of natural science in the pre-school curriculum.</p><p>Material and data for the abovementioned investigations have been gathered through qualitative interviews with seven active pre-school teachers.</p><p>The report finds that a majority of the interviewees only have a very basic understanding of natural science and therefore often fail to adequately incorporate natural science in the daily pre-school curriculum. The report furthermore finds that amongst the interviewees the factors that influence planning and implementation of natural science in the pre-school curriculum are: (i) competence, (ii) perception and knowledge of natural science and (iii) interpretation of the pre-school curriculum guidelines.</p><p>Current pre-school curriculum guidelines stresses the importance of natural science and encourages pre-school teachers to increase the awareness of natural science by incorporating it in the daily curriculum. This report argues that in order to increase the awareness of natural science the knowledge and perception of natural science amongst pre-school teachers must first be improved.</p>