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This study provides a descriptive analysis of the distribution of National Board Certified Teachers (NBCTs) in Virginia, which offers financial compensation to these educators regardless of teaching assignment. Most localities provide additional incentives to recruit and retain NBCTs, again, not targeted or structured in any way. Given the impact of high quality teachers on student learning and the well-documented disparities in access for subsets of the student population, it is important to obtain a baseline measure of NBCT distribution in Virginia upon which leaders might build a plan for reform. Three research questions were addressed: How are NBCTs distributed across Virginia with regards to divisions' ability to pay? In school divisions with a high concentration of NBCTs, what incentive structures do these divisions offer to either support teachers while they apply to NBPTS or to recruit and retain previously successful NBCTs? What are the characteristics of the schools in which NBCTs serve with regards to the race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status of their student populations? The researcher determined NBCTs were distributed unequally across Virginia's divisions and schools based on divisions' ability to pay and student demographics. Formal support structures were found in most high concentration divisions. / Ed. D.

Background Treatment of cancer patients in certified cancer centers, that meet specific quality standards in term of structures and procedures of medical care, is a national treatment goal in Germany. However, convincing evidence that treatment in certified cancer centers is associated with better outcomes in patients with pancreatic cancer is still missing. Methods We used patient-specific information (demographic characteristics, diagnoses, treatments) from German statutory health insurance data covering the period 2009–2017 and hospital characteristics from the German Standardized Quality Reports. We investigated differences in survival between patients treated in hospitals with and without pancreatic cancer center certification by the German Cancer Society (GCS) using the Kaplan–Meier estimator and Cox regression with shared frailty. Results The final sample included 45,318 patients with pancreatic cancer treated in 1,051 hospitals (96 GCS-certified, 955 not GCS-certified). 5,426 (12.0%) of the patients were treated in GCS-certified pancreatic cancer centers. Patients treated in certified and non-certified hospitals had similar distributions of age, sex, and comorbidities. Median survival was 8.0 months in GCS-certified pancreatic cancer centers and 4.4 months in non-certified hospitals. Cox regression adjusting for multiple patient and hospital characteristics yielded a significantly lower hazard of long-term, all-cause mortality in patients treated in GCS-certified pancreatic centers (Hazard ratio = 0.89; 95%-CI = 0.85–0.93). This result remained robust in multiple sensitivity analyses, including stratified estimations for subgroups of patients and hospitals. Conclusion This robust observational evidence suggests that patients with pancreatic cancer benefit from treatment in a certified cancer center in terms of survival. Therefore, the certification of hospitals appears to be a powerful strategy to improve patient outcomes in pancreatic cancer care.

Bakgrund och problemdiskussion: Att erhålla ett godkänt resultat på auktorisationsprovet och därmed bli auktoriserad revisor utgör ett långsiktigt mål och milstople för många revisionsmedarbetare. I Sverige motsvarar denna titel en kvalitetsstämpel på att revisorn har den kompetens som krävs för att enligt nationell lagstiftning utöva professionen. I dagens föränderliga samhälle möter revisionsyrket nya krav, dilemman och reformer för att säkerställa att branschen balanserar yrkets attraktion med kompetens. Studien ämnar således att utforska de komplexiteter och utmaningar som är förknippade med att uppnå denna eftertraktade titel med hänsyn till branschens föränderliga krav och den föränderliga utbildningsmiljön som råder för framtida revisorer. Speciellt med tanke på att det är cirka 40 procent som i dagsläget erhåller ett underkänt resultat. Syfte: Syftet med studien är att analysera eventuella mönster, trender och hinder som påverkar möjligheterna till auktorisation. Metod: Studien bygger på en deduktiv flermetodsstudie där befintlig teori har använts för att härleda hypoteser som sedan testas statistiskt utifrån data tilldelad av Revisorsinspektionen. För att skapa ytterligare förståelse för resultaten från den kvantitativa delstudien utförs även semistrukturerade intervjuer som syftar till att inkludera tentandernas egna uppfattningar och erfarenheter. På så sätt tillåts fördjupande inslag för att vidga insikterna och generera en helhetlig bild över tentandernas potential att erhålla ett godkänt resultat.  Slutsats: Utifrån teorier om profession, kompetensutveckling, genus och socialt kapital visar resultaten att byråtillhörighet, ålder och provtillfälle har en avgörande påverkan på om tentanden lyckas på auktorisationsprovet. Arbetslivserfarenhet från Big-4-byråer anses vara betydande för framgång på provet, vilket medför att provets bredd och relevans i förhållande till verkliga typsituationer kan ifrågasättas. Dessutom poängteras det även hur individuella faktorer har ett inflytande på utfallet. Vidare visar resultatet hur RIFS 2018:1's införande har haft en negativ påverkan på erhållna poäng och möjligheten till ett godkänt resultat. Trots detta anses yrkets roll som profession inte hotad i och med provets bibehållande svårighetsgrad såväl som att arbetslivserfarenhet uppfattas som det främsta medlet för kunskapsinsamling. / Background and Problem: The pursuit of achieving a passing result on the certification exam, and thereby becoming a certified public accountant, is a long-term goal and milestone for many audit employees. In Sweden, this title represents a benchmark of quality assurance that the auditor has the competence required to practice the profession according to national legislation. In today's changing society, the audit profession faces new demands, dilemmas, and reforms to ensure that the industry balances professional attractiveness with competence. The study thus aims to explore the complexities and challenges associated with achieving this coveted title, taking into account the changing demands of the industry and the changing educational environment prevailing for future accountants, especially considering that it is approximately 40 percent who currently receive a failing result.  Purpose: The purpose of the study is to analyze possible patterns, trends, and obstacles that affect the possibilities for authorization.  Method: The study is based on a mixed-methods research with a deductive approach, where existing theory has been used to derive hypotheses that are then tested statistcally based on data provided by Revisorsinspektionen. In order to gain further understanding of the results from the quantitative sub-study, semi-structured interviews are also conducted with the aim of incorporating the examinees' own perceptions and experiences. With this approach, deeper insights are allowed to broaden and generate a holistic picture of the examinees' potential to obtain a passing result.  Conclusion: Based on theories about profession, competence development, gender and social capital, the results show that agency affiliation, age, and the time of examination significantly influence whether the examinee suceeds in the CPA-exam or not. Work experience from Big-4 agencies is considered significant for success on the exam, which disputes the exam´s relevance to real-life situations. Additionally, results demonstrate how the introduction of RIFS 2018:1 has negatively impacted the points obtained and the possibility of achieving a passing result. Despite this, the auditing profession is not considered threatened due to the CPA-exam's maintained level of difficulty, as well as the perception that practical expertise is the primary means of acquiring knowledge.

En brist på auktoriserade revisorer är ett problem som har uppmärksammats i Sverige och på global nivå under en längre tid. Syftet med denna studie är att förklara vad som påverkar svenska ekonomistudenters intentioner att inrikta sig mot att bli auktoriserad revisor, genom att nyttja Ajzens teori om planerat beteende. Tidigare forskning har indikerat att studenters intentioner för en karriär som auktoriserad revisor fungerar väl i syfte att förutse vilka som faktiskt kommer att fullfölja ett visst beteende. Sådan forskning saknas dock inom den svenska kontexten, vilket medför svårigheter att skapa en grund för praktiska lösningar. För att testa faktorer som är relevanta till studenters intentionsbildande nyttjas binär logistisk regression, med ett dataunderlag som utgörs av enkäter skickade till ekonomistudenter på nio lärosäten i Sverige. I studien framkommer det att ett intresse för redovisning och revision är den starkaste drivkraften i intentionsbildandet. En uppfattning om att yrket medför god inkomstpotential bidrar också till en ökad benägenhet att inrikta sig mot att bli auktoriserad revisor. En uppfattning om att yrkesvalet medför hög social status har mot förväntan en starkt reducerande effekt på benägenheten att ha en intention. Resultaten visar att studenters intentioner huvudsakligen påverkas av deras utfallsförväntningar. För praktiska lösningar indikerar resultaten att det är mest lämpligt att fokusera på att skapa intresse för redovisning och revision, samt att skapa en tillfredställande bild av yrkets inkomstpotential. Det är inte att rekommendera att inrikta sig mot att marknadsföra yrkets sociala belöningar, då detta skulle vara kontraproduktivt. / A shortage of practicing certified public accountants (CPA) is a problem that has been observed in Sweden, and on a global scale, for a relatively long time. The purpose of this study is therefore to explain what influences intentions to pursue a CPA certification among Swedish students of economics, by utilizing Ajzen’s theory of planned behavior. Previous research has indicated that students’ intentions to pursue a CPA certification serve as a functional predictor for actual future behavior. This direction of research is still largely unexplored in the Swedish context, making it hard to form a basis for practical solutions. Relevant factors are tested using a binary logistic regression analysis, applied to survey data from students of economics at nine Swedish universities. The study shows that genuine interest for accounting and auditing constitutes the strongest motivator for students’ intentions. Perceptions of the career as financially rewarding also increase the likelihood of having an intention, to a lesser extent. Against expectations, the study also finds that perceptions of high social status for CPAs has a strong diminishing effect on the likelihoodof having an intention. The study therefore finds that students’ intentions can largely be explained as a result of their outcome expectations. The implication for practical solutions is that fostering interest for accounting and auditing is of high importance. Projecting an image of the career as financially rewarding is also important, albeit to a lesser extent. Trying to make the career seem rewarding through increased social status is not recommended, given its apparent counterproductive effect.

There are many sustainability issues related to products, services, and business processes. For example, the production, usage, and disposal of IT equipment all impact sustainability. Therefore, buying more sustainable IT equipment can make a difference. More sustainable IT equipment can be acquired by selecting IT equipment with sustainability certification, such as TCO Certified. TCO Certified makes sustainable purchasing easier, which is useful in public procurement. Public procurement is complex to guarantee objectivity and transparency. Transparency in public procurement also means many public procurement documents are available, which can be analyzed. We hypothesized that the sustainability focuses in these public procurement documents (what the text is about) reflect the sustainability priorities of professional buyers (in their minds, which is indirectly observable). With this link, we investigated differences in sustainability priorities by using a machine learning model for predicting sustainability focuses in public procurement documents. By using a large language model, we automatically extracted sustainability focuses in procurement documents from the e-procurement platform TED. Thereby, we measured the sustainability focus of countries all over the globe. Through interviews with experts, we saw several indications that the used method is a good way of pinpointing sustainability priorities. We provide maps of sustainability focuses around the world (in section 4.12). Moreover, we analyze the results in-depth. One interesting finding includes indications that countries generally do not prioritize an issue more if the issue is of a larger concern. Counterintuitively, countries prioritize an issue more if the issue is of lesser concern. One example of this is circularity focus, which we note is generally less in countries with worse waste management. To our knowledge, analyzing sustainability focuses in procurement documents has not been done on this scale before. We believe these novel results can lead the way for a better understanding of sustainability priorities around the world. / Det finns många hållbarhetsproblem relaterade till produkter, tjänster och affärsprocesser. Till exempel finns det en hållbarhetspåverkan i produktion, användning och avfallshantering av IT-utrustning. Inköp av hållbarare IT-utrustning kan därför göra skillnad. Mer hållbar IT-utrustning kan erhållas genom att välja hållbarhetscertifierad IT-utrustning som exempelvis TCO Certified. TCO Certified gör hållbara inköp enklare och är särskilt användbart inom offentlig upphandling. Offentlig upphandling är komplext i objektivitet- och transparenssyfte. Transparens inom offentlig upphandling innebär också att många offentliga upphandlingsdokument finns tillgängliga och kan analyseras. Vi antog att hållbarhetsfokusen inuti dessa offentliga upphandlings-dokument (vad texten handlar om) hänger ihop med de professionella inköparnas hållbarhetsprioriteringar (deras tankar/känslor/intressen). Med denna länk undersökte vi skillnader i hållbarhetsprioriteringar genom att använda en maskininlärningsmodell för att uppskatta hållbarhetsfokus i offentliga upphandlingsdokument. Med en storskalig språkmodell extraherade vi automatiskt hållbarhetsfokus i dokument från Tenders Electronics Daily. Därigenom mätte vi hållbarhetsfokus för länder över hela världen. Genom intervjuer med experter såg vi flera indikationer på att den använda metoden är ett bra sätt att uppskatta hållbarhetsprioriteringar på. Vi presenterar kartor över hållbarhetsfokus runt om i världen (i avsnitt 4.12). Dessutom analyserar vi resultaten på djupet. En intressant upptäckt är att länder generellt inte prioriterar ett problem mer om problemet är allvarligare i det landet utan snarare tvärtom. Länder prioriterar ett problem mer om problemet är av lägre allvarlighetsgrad i det landet. Till exempel ser vi att cirkularitetsfokuset i offentliga upphandlingar är mindre i länder med sämre avfallshantering. Att analysera hållbarhetsfokus i upphandlingsdokument har inte tidigare gjorts på denna skala såvitt vi känner till. Vi tror våra resultat kan bidra till en bättre förståelse av hållbarhetsprioriteringar runt om i världen.

Professional development is used by teachers to improve their teaching to enhance student learning, and research indicates that the National Board Certification (NBC) process contains high-quality professional development characteristics. Engagement in the NBC process can lead to professional growth by changing teachers’ knowledge, instructional practices, and students’ learning. This quantitative study investigated the extent to which characteristics of the NBC process influenced National Board Certified Teachers’ (NBCTs) professional growth. Using an online survey, the study collected responses from 119 NBCTs who participated in a specific NBC support program. Key findings included that all 20 high-quality professional development characteristics investigated had a perceived positive influence on professional growth, with some notable differences. The characteristics involving individual analysis of student work and teaching videos along with reflection were perceived to be most important, while those centering on collaboration with other candidates were perceived as less important. Second, characteristics that had the greatest perceived impact were those that focused on changing pedagogy rather than increasing content knowledge. Furthermore, a significant relationship was found between the perceived importance of duration in the experience and the length of time the candidate was in the process: NBCTs who achieved in one year, as compared to NBCTs who achieved in two or three years, had statistically significant lower ratings on the influence that the duration had on their professional growth. Additionally, those who engaged in the process for financial reasons, as compared to professional growth, had a lower rating of perceived importance when all characteristics were combined.

The background of our thesis is the fact that properties and their related industry have a big negative impact on our environment. Since the real estate business is an important part of how the society is constructed, environmental solutions and sustainable real estate development can contribute to positive climate changes globally. The last decades have shown an increasing number of green properties, however the proliferation on the Swedish market is still slow. Existing research describes different benefits and motivators that should encourage investments in environmentally certified properties among real estate companies. Benefits that are established are for example lower energy- and maintenance costs, lower vacancy rate, an improved company image and increasing market value. We believe there is a gap of information considering how the real estate companies experience that these benefits are generated from a green building, as well as how motivators have impacted on the companies’ investment decisions. The purpose of this thesis is therefore to explain how different motivators affect real estate companies to invest in environmentally certified properties. To answer the purpose of our thesis, we have created four different hypotheses based on existing research which includes an improved result, increased economic profitability, improved company image and the opportunity of incentive programs and economic contributions. The hypotheses of our study have been tested with a quantitative method, through a survey. Collected data from our study has been analysed through a multiple regression analysis, where the four motivators have been analysed against the real estate companies share of investment decisions in environmentally certified properties. The conclusion of this thesis is that none of the hypotheses reached statistical significance and therefore the collected data cannot prove any relations between the motivators and companies’ investment decisions. Although, through our study, we have been able to identify both differences and similarities between theoretical claims and the result from our study. Even though statistical relations cannot be confirmed, the survey has collected descriptive data which contributes to a general view of how Swedish real estate companies today evaluate environmentally certified properties and how they are motivated to invest in these properties.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-26T20:22:18Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Fernanda Brusa Molino.pdf: 2400362 bytes, checksum: 398405a7c8529d68f2fab1d6fff2f18e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-11-05 / Industrialization, that was already seen as synonymous of progress and hope of a better future for most nations, reaches the XXIth century facing many detractors and being seen as a major threat because of its voracious consumption of raw material which exhausts seas, forests, soil, subsoil and releases harmful gases that contribute to the greenhouse effect, causing the reaction of sectors of society concerned with the legacy that will be let to future generations. Among most harming sectors, are mining and related industry, whose degrading and polluting activities demonstrates the need for quality control and environmental monitoring. This study seeks to contextualize the concern about global warming and the rise of international treaties on the subject for the defense of the environment, mentioning Kyoto Protocol, Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee for a Framework Convention on Climate Change (INC/FCCC), the conferences between the parties, and also the Brazilian legislation related to the issue of climate change mitigation. The study seeks to know about the flexibility mechanisms proposed by Kyoto Protocol, aiming to achieve emission reductions by developed countries signatories. The research analyzes the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), the Certified Emission Reductions (CER) and the efficiency of these instruments as a form of environmental compensation, highlighting the various modalities, to finish with the presentation of the carbon market and CDM related projects that help in global warming mitigation undertaken by mining sector. Among the findings, it appears that compensation measures are able to meet the recommendations of the Kyoto Protocol and to assist in combating the adverse effects of mining to the environment / A industrialização, antes sinônimo de progresso e esperança de um futuro melhor para a maioria das nações, alcança o século XXI enfrentando muitos detratores e sendo vista como grande ameaça em razão da voracidade no consumo de matéria-prima que exaure os mares, as florestas, o solo, o subsolo e libera os nocivos gases que contribuem para o efeito estufa, provocando a reação de setores da sociedade preocupados com o legado que será herdado pelas gerações futuras. Entre os setores que mais poluem está a mineração e as atividades relacionadas, cuja ação degradadora para o meio ambiente demonstra a necessidade de controle de qualidade ambiental e monitoramento. Este estudo busca contextualizar a preocupação com o aquecimento global e o surgimento de tratados internacionais sobre o tema para a defesa do meio ambiente, fazendo menção ao Protocolo de Quioto, à Convenção- Quadro das Nações Unidas sobre Mudança do Clima e às Conferências entre as partes, e também as legislações brasileiras relacionadas à questão da mitigação das mudanças climáticas. Buscam-se conhecer os mecanismos de flexibilização propostos pelo Protocolo de Quioto, visando atingir às reduções de emissão pelos países desenvolvidos signatários. A pesquisa analisa os Mecanismos de Desenvolvimento Limpo (MDL), as Reduções Certificadas de Emissões e a eficiência desses instrumentos como forma de compensação ambiental, destacando-se as várias modalidades, para finalizar com a apresentação do mercado de carbono e projetos relacionados com MDL que auxiliam na mitigação do aquecimento global empreendidos pelo setor minerário. Entre os achados, verifica-se que as medidas de compensação são capazes de atender às propostas do Protocolo de Quioto e auxiliar no combate aos efeitos adversos da mineração ao meio ambiente