Alzheimer's disease (AD) is neurodegenerative disorder that causes memory loss and cognitive dysfunction. It affects one in five people over the age of 80 and is distressing for both sufferers and their families. A transitional stage between normal ageing and dementia including AD is termed a mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Recent studies have shown that people with MCI may convert to AD over time although not all MCI cases progress to AD. Much research is now focussing on early detection of AD and diagnosing an MCI that will progress to AD to allow prompt treatment and disease management before the neurons degenerate to a stage beyond repair. Hence, the ability to obtain a method of identifying MCI is of great importance. Virtual reality plays an important role in healthcare and offers opportunities for detection of MCI. There are various studies that have focused on detection of early AD using virtual environments, although results remain limited. One significant drawback of these studies has been their limited capacity to incorporate levels of difficulty to challenge users' capability. Furthermore, at best, these studies have only been able to discriminate between early AD and healthy elderly with about 80% of overall accuracy. As a result, a novel virtual simulation called Virtual Reality for Early Detection of Alzheimer's Disease (VREAD) was developed. VREAD is a quick, easy and friendly tool that aims to investigate cognitive functioning in a group of healthy elderly participants and those with MCI. It focuses on the task of following a route, since Topographical Disorientation (TD) is common in AD. An investigation was set up with two cohorts: non-elderly and elderly participants. The findings with regard to the non-elderly are important as they represent a first step towards implementation with elderly people. The results with elderly participants indicate that this simulation based assessment could provide a method for the detection of MCI since significant correlations between the virtual simulation and existing neuropsychological tests were found. In addition, the results proved that VREAD is comparable with well-known neuropsychological tests, such as Cambridge Neuropsychological Automated Test Battery, Paired Associate Learning (CANTAB PAL) and Graded Naming Test (GNT). Furthermore, analysis through the use of machine learning techniques with regard to the prediction of MCI also obtained encouraging results. This novel simulation was able to predict with about 90% overall accuracy using weighting function proposed to discriminate between MCI and healthy elderly.

The standard concerning the impairment testing for goodwill is often considered to be one of the most difficult standards in IFRS to comply with, which is largely due to the subjective and complex nature of the standard. Despite, the obvious issues with the standard it has remained fairly unaltered since its implementation back in 2005. The purpose of this research was to investigate to what extent companies listed on NASDAQ OMX Stockholm comply with the disclosure requirements in IAS 36, paragraph 134. This research also intended to answer whether there is an association between the companies’ compliance level and certain company characteristics, more specifically company size, profitability, goodwill intensity and industry type. The study also considered how time affected the compliance level. We devised hypotheses for each of the company characteristics, and these were formulate with both previous research and theory in mind. The theories that were utilized in this study were the agency theory, the political cost theory and the cost-benefit theory. The hypotheses that lacked a concrete linkage to one of the theories were instead justified using the reasoning’s found in pre-existing disclosure studies. The necessary data was collected from companies’ annual reports, which we accessed from either Business Retriever or directly from the companies’ official websites. An own interpretation of IAS 36, paragraph 134 was made in order to able to assess each company on equal terms. The collected data was then transferred to a disclosure index in order to get a compliancy score for each company investigated. The empirical findings of this research showed that two out of five hypotheses were significantly associated with the companies’ compliance level. The analysis rejected hypotheses related to profitability, goodwill intensity and industry type. The findings however showed that both year and company size are associated with the compliance level. The positive association between compliance and year, implies that compliance increases as companies get more accustomed to the standard. The findings further suggest that larger companies comply better with standard because they are under more political pressure and more inclined to please their stakeholders.

This study explored the concept of student remediation in counseling graduate programs by examining the behavioral indicators associated with student remediation, the terminology used to discuss student remediation, and remedial interventions and their effectiveness. Members of the Association for Counselor Education and Supervision (ACES) were electronically surveyed using a researcher-designed instrument, the Counseling Graduate Student Remediation Questionnaire. A total of 607 individuals participated in the study for a response rate of 28.8%. The results of this study indicated that the overall five behavioral indicators considered by participants as needing remediation were the following: receptivity to feedback; basic counseling skills; boundaries with clients, supervisors, and/or colleagues; openness to self-examination; and advanced counseling skills. Five factors were identified within the behavioral indicators based on which can be remediated: Factor I, Personal Competencies; Factor II, Professionalism; Factor III, Personal Challenges; Factor IV, Honesty; and Factor V, Clinical Competencies. Significant group differences were found between counselor educators' and doctoral students' perceptions of what needs remediation with counseling graduate students, as well as what can be remediated with students. Significant group differences also were present between administrative faculty and non-administrative faculty on perceptions of what needs remediation with students. The overall three most preferred terms by participants used to discuss students in remediation included: challenging, problems with professional competence, and problematic. For remedial interventions, participants perceived that increased supervision was often effective as an intervention and that referring or recommending to personal counseling was occasionally effective. The results of this study seemed indicative of a broadening perspective regarding the topic of remediation, with perceptions shifting toward a positive framework rather than the more pejorative historical approaches. Overall, the conclusion from this study was that student remediation is currently developing within the field as a distinct concept with many specific associated behavioral indicators, terminology, and interventions.

Children with Disruptive Behavior Disorders (DBD), including Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) have poorer language skills compared to typically developing children; however, language as a potential risk factor for DBD has received little empirical attention or evaluation. Receptive, expressive, and pragmatic language skills in preschoolers with DBD were examined. Participants were 82 preschool-age children and their primary caregivers. Primary caregivers completed a semi-structured interview and symptom and language questionnaires. Preschoolers completed measures of receptive and expressive language. Results indicated that preschoolers with DBD were more impaired on receptive, expressive, and pragmatic language compared to non-DBD children. Pragmatic language appears particularly impaired in children with DBD, and language problems appear most linked with increased hyperactivity-impulsivity (vs. inattention or oppositional-defiance). This work suggests the need for early assessment of language in preschoolers with DBD, as well as the possibly utility of tailored interventions focusing on improving pragmatic language.

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This thesis investigates design methods and phase models towards a reinterpretation of the design process towards a specific design task. The study reveals the essence of the process as a design process core, onto which may be built design process models to suit design tasks of diverse nature and scale.

Frågeställning: Vilken är den procentuella förändringen av goodwill och lönsamhet sedan införandet av IFRS 3 i de båda branscherna? Finns det ett samband mellan andelen goodwill och lönsamhet i de båda branscherna? Ökar eller minskar lönsamheten av goodwillnedskrivningar? Syfte: Syftet med vår studie är att med hjälp av analyser undersöka sambanden mellan goodwill och företagens lönsamhet samt få en ökad insikt i hur goodwillen och dess nedskrivning hanteras i de valda branscherna. Detta anser vi intressant då IFRS 3 har i syfte att ge internationella riktlinjer hur goodwillen ska redovisas, men på grund av subjektiva bedömningar uppstår skillnader som påverkar företagens lönsamhet. Studiens utfall kan vara av intresse för intressenter inom branscherna. Metod: Studien är genomförd med en kvantitativ metod. En statistisk analys genomförts där vi testat signifikanta samband mellan variabler. Materialet till detta är sammanställt från nio företags årsredovisningar, under en tio års period. Resultatet studerades genom sammanställningar i diagram och med regressionsanalyser. Slutsats: Studien visade att i byggnationsbranschen har räntabiliteten minskat samtidigt som goodwillen har ökat. I telekommunikationsbranschen har räntabiliteten ökat samtidigt som goodwillen minskat. Detta sedan införandet av IFRS 3. Studien visade att det finns ett samband mellan lönsamhet och goodwill i de studerade branscherna. Inget signifikant värde uppnås på nedskrivningarnas påverkan på lönsamheten vilket gör att vi inte kan uttala oss om det finns ett samband mellan dessa. / Research questions:  What is the percentage change in goodwill and profitability since the introduction of IFRS 3 in the two sectors? Is there a relationship between the proportion of goodwill and profitability in both sectors? Increases or decreases the profitability of the goodwill impairment?  Purpose: The purpose of our study is that with help of analyzes examining the relationship between goodwill and business profitability and gain a greater understanding of how the goodwill and its impairment are being handled in the selected sectors. We consider this interesting since IFRS 3 has the purpose of providing international guidelines how goodwill should be reported, but because of subjective assessments arises differences that affect corporate profitability. The study's results may be of interest to stakeholders in the sectors. Method: This study was conducted by a quantitative method. A statistical analysis has been carried out where we test the significant relationships between different variables. The material for this essay is compiled from nine companies’ annual reports, between 2005 and 2014. The results were studied by summaries of graphs and regression analysis. Conclusion: The study shows that in the construction industry has the profitability fallen while the share of goodwill has increased. The telecommunications industry has increased the return on equity while the share of goodwill has decreased. The study showed that there is a correlation between profitability and goodwill in the industries studied. No significant value was achieved in impairments impact on profitability, which means that we can not express an opinion whether there is a connection between them.

The thesis is divided into two main parts. The first part is focused on the impairment of assets according to czech law, the second part focuses on the impairment of assets under IFRS. In both parts there is short chapter about valuation, followed by chapters: depreciation, impairment of longlived tangible assets, longlived intangible assets, inventories, receivables and financial assets. In the IFRS part there is also described impairment of assets held for sale.

The thesis defines prudence principle in accounting as are impairment of assets, provisions, depreciation of assets and deferred tax. In the first part discourses about them in light of International Financial Reporting Standards and in the second part according to Czech legislation, where are also both approaches compared within the scope of the end of each chapter.

Tourism has become a major part of today's society and has been seen as a human privilege. The expansion of tourism makes travel more accessible to more people. Still, people with a disability can face difficulties when traveling for the purpose of tourism. Information becomes important to accomplish accessible tourism for everyone, but the problem in various tourism disciplines occurs with the lack of knowledge about people with disabilities.  Tourism has different disciplines. Transportation is one of the basics of making tourism accessible around the world. Transportation has a major impact on tourism development but also in tourist experiences. If the transportation mode is not accessible, it can be a negative experience for people with a disability and can affect the entire journey and their willingness to attempt further trips. Disability is a broad definition and it is important to understand that different disabilities require different needs and that everyone is individual. This study analyzes how hearing loss affects travelers and the understanding of; (1) What may be needed to assist people with hearing impairments when traveling; (2) How does traveling affect people with hearing impairment when they do not have accessibility? The method is a qualitative method with in-depth interviews because this study wants to understand and reflect participants’ experiences when traveling with a hearing impairment.