By combining qualitative and quantitative methods, this study investigates which writing tasks Swedish as a second language teachers use in their teaching of the different school-related text types, how they justify their choices and adaptations of the writing task, and whether any connections can be seen to the national tests in Swedish as a second language writing tasks. The material used is survey responses and previous national tests whose results are then analysed through theories, such as genre pedagogy and Ivanic writing discourses to answer these questions. Previous research shows how factors such as writing task design and real readers can contribute to writing development in students. Previous research also shows how to work with text types in a language development way and how writing instruction is influenced by teachers' writing discourses. This paper shows from the survey responses that a trend among writing tasks in the different text types can be seen and how 8 out of 10 can be linked to previous national tests in Swedish as a second language. The results show that the teachers' reasons for their choice of writing tasks could be linked to previous national tests, to their suitability in writing the text type and the teacher's writing discourse. The teachers' adaptations of the writing tasks have been more about their way of working than the design of the writing task, but adaptations such as simplified language and adapted language have been mentioned. These results are important because they indicate how established genre pedagogy and its circular model have become in Swedish as a second language teaching and how much influence the national test in Swedish as a second language has on the teachers' choice of writing tasks in the different text types.

The thesis on "Critical places at the first stage of primary school in the teaching of mathematics by the Hejný method" focuses on the problematic places of the Hejný method, which make it difficult for teachers and especially their pupils at the first stage of primary schools. In the theoretical part of the thesis, the constructivist and transient educational style teaching of mathematics using the Hejný method are characterized. The critical points in mathematics identified in the project of the Grant Agency of the Czech Republic are also introduced and conceived into a unified structure. The theoretical part also includes an analysis of pupil solutions to mathematical tasks from the 2015 TIMSS international survey. The empirical part deals with the experience and view of primary school teachers in teaching mathematics by the Hejný method. The first research survey finds from future primary school teachers their experience and opinions on this method. The second research survey focuses on the identification of problematic places and roles in the teaching of mathematics by the Hejný method from the point of view of teachers who teach mathematics using the Hejný method at the first stage of primary schools. The questionnaire survey was carried out using the questionnaire method, which identifies...

<p>Tactile speech communication allows individuals to understand speech by sensations transmitted through the sense of touch. Devices that enable tactile speech communication can be an effective means to transmit important messages when the visual and/or auditory systems are overloaded or impaired. This has applications in silent communication and for people with hearing and/or visual impairments. An effective artificial speech communication system must be learned in a reasonable time and be easily remembered. Moreover, it must transmit any word at suitable rates for speech communication. The pursuit of a system that fulfills these requirements is a complex task that requires work in different areas. This thesis presents advancements in four of them. First is the matter of encoding speech information. Here, a phonemic-based approach allowed participants to recognize of tactile phonemes, words, phrases and full sentences. Second is the issue of training users in the use of the system. To this end, this thesis investigated the phenomenon of incidental categorization of vibrotactile stimuli as the foundation of more natural methods to learn a tactile speech communication system. Third is the matter of the neural processing of the tactile speech information. Here, an exploration of the functional characteristics of the phonemic-based approach using EEG was conducted. Finally, there is the matter of implementing the system for consumer use. In this area, this work addresses practical considerations of delivering rich haptic effects with current wearable technologies. These are informative for the design of actuators used in tactile speech communication devices.</p>

Recently, there has been an increasing interest in high school mathematics education, especially in the teaching and learning of calculus. For example, studies conducted by Bressoud (2010); Judson and Nishimori (2005); Koh and Divaharan (2011); and St. Jarre (2008) all looked at how to improve the understanding of calculus students and what roles the educator must take to ensure that their students are successful. The purpose of this study was to determine if there was a significant difference between instruction using computer algebra system (CAS) compared to instruction using the graphing calculator in high school calculus on students’ conceptual and procedural understanding. This study explored and compared two different types of instruction based on the use of two different types of technology, CAS and graphing calculator. The total population for this study consisted of 333 students. There were 187 students classified as using the graphing calculator and 146 students classified as using CAS. The data for this study were collected from four Advanced Placement (AP) calculus AB courses from high schools in Florida. The study used observations and two sets of calculus tasks in order to gather data. The research questions for this study looked at comparing the grades of students categorized based on the type of instruction received during the learning of calculus. The statistical procedure that was used was a simple oneway analysis of variance (ANOVA). The results indicated that there was no significant difference between the two types of instruction on the students’ procedural knowledge, iii however, there was statistical significance on the students’ conceptual understanding in favor of the CAS students. The study introduces a framework on how to obtain information about the effects of different types of instruction on students’ understanding of calculus. The results of this study contribute in assisting teachers and future researchers on how to analyze student work in order to obtain information about the students’ conceptual and procedural understanding of first semester calculus.

Det uppskattas att ungefär en tredjedel av arbetsmarknaden består av röstkrävande yrken, det vill säga yrken där rösten är ett viktigt och nödvändigt redskap för att utföra sitt arbete. Tidigare forskning har identifierat lärare, sångare och präster som yrken med röstkrävande arbetsuppgifter. Forskningen är dock över 20 år gammal, och aktuell forskning om vilka röstkrav som ställs på arbetsmarknaden, särskilt hos grupper som inte är överrepresenterade vad gäller röstproblem, saknas. Syftet med den här studien är att identifiera vilka röstkrav som ställs inom yrkesgrupper i Sverige idag. Totalt 477 deltagare besvarade en enkät med frågor om uppskattad talartid under en arbetsdag, samt vilka röstkrävande arbetsuppgifter och röstkrävande arbetsmiljöfaktorer som förekom på deras arbetsplats. Resultatet från den här deskriptiva tvärsnittsstudien visar att flera yrken som tidigare blivit identifierade som röstkrävande yrken, även är röstkrävande yrken idag. Ytterligare identifierade yrken i den här studien var till exempel arbetstagare inom museum- och biblioteksverksamhet, sjuksköterskor med vidareutbildning, till exempel barnsjuksköterskor, chefer inom utbildning, och yrkesgruppen ”författare, journalister och tolkar”. De mest förekommande röstkraven var att muntligt instruera eller informera kollegor, prata i telefon och att kommunicera muntligt med kunder eller klienter. Vidare forskning med ett större deltagarantal behövs för att ytterligare identifiera röstkrävande yrkesgrupper och röstkrav på den moderna arbetsmarknaden, där rösten förväntas hålla under allt fler arbetsverksamma år. / It is estimated that approximately one third of the labour market consists of vocally demanding occupations, namely occupations where the voice is an important and necessary tool to execute one’s work. Previous research has identified teachers, singers, and priests as occupations with vocally demanding work. However, the research is over 20 years old, and current research about vocal requirements on the labour market, especially amongst groups that are not overrepresented regarding voice problem, are missing. The purpose of this study is to identify which vocal requirements are essential on the modern Swedish labour market. A total of 477 participants completed a survey with questions about estimated speaking time during a workday, as well as which vocally demanding work tasks and vocally challenging work environmental factors occured at their workplace. The result from the descriptive cross-sectional study shows that several occupations that previously have been identified as vocally demanding occupations, also are vocally demanding occupations today. Further identified occupations in this study were employees working within libraries and museums, nursing professionals with continued education such as pediatric nurses, education managers, and the occupational group “authors, journalists, and interpreters”. The most occurring vocal demands in the Swedish labour market today were verbally instructing or informing colleagues, speaking on the phone, and verbally communicating with customers/clients/patients/users/visitors. Further research with a larger number of participants is needed to identify vocally demanding occupational groups and vocal requirements on the modern Swedish labour market, where the voice is expected to last during an increasing amount of working years.

Pour un processus d’évaluation linguistique plus précis et rapide, il est important d’identifier les mécanismes cognitifs qui soutiennent des tâches langagières couramment utilisées. Une façon de mieux comprendre ses mécanismes est d’explorer la variance partagée entre les tâches linguistiques en utilisant l’analyse factorielle exploratoire. Peu d’études ont employé cette méthode pour étudier ces mécanismes dans le fonctionnement normal du langage. Par conséquent, notre objectif principal est d’explorer comment un ensemble de tâches linguistiques se regroupent afin d’étudier les mécanismes cognitifs sous-jacents de ses tâches. Nous avons évalué 201 participants en bonne santé âgés entre 18 et 75 ans (moyenne=45,29, écart-type= 15,06) et avec une scolarité entre 5 et 23 ans (moyenne=11,10, écart-type=4,68), parmi ceux-ci, 62,87% étaient des femmes. Nous avons employé deux batteries linguistiques : le Protocole d’examen linguistique de l’aphasie Montréal-Toulouse et Protocole Montréal d’Évaluation de la Communication – version abrégé. Utilisant l’analyse en composantes principales avec une rotation Direct-oblimin, nous avons découvert quatre composantes du langage : la sémantique picturale (tâches de compréhension orale, dénomination orale et dénomination écrite), l'exécutif linguistique (tâches d’évocation lexicale - critères sémantique, orthographique et libre), le transcodage et la sémantique (tâches de lecture, dictée et de jugement sémantique) et la pragmatique (tâches d'interprétation d'actes de parole indirecte et d'interprétation de métaphores). Ces quatre composantes expliquent 59,64 % de la variance totale. Deuxièmement, nous avons vérifié l'association entre ces composantes et deux mesures des fonctions exécutives dans un sous-ensemble de 33 participants. La performance de la flexibilité cognitive a été évaluée en soustrayant le - temps A au temps B du Trail Making Test et celle de la mémoire de travail en prenant le total des réponses correctes au test du n-back. La composante exécutive linguistique était associée à une meilleure flexibilité cognitive (r=-0,355) et la composante transcodage et sémantique à une meilleure performance de mémoire de travail (r=.0,397). Nos résultats confirment l’hétérogénéité des processus sous-jacent aux tâches langagières et leur relation intrinsèque avec d'autres composantes cognitives, tels que les fonctions exécutives. / To a more accurate and time-efficient language assessment process, it is important to identify the cognitive mechanisms that sustain commonly used language tasks. One way to do so is to explore the shared variance across language tasks using the technique of principal components analysis. Few studies applied this technique to investigate these mechanisms in normal language functioning. Therefore, our main goal is to explore how a set of language tasks are going to group to investigate the underlying cognitive mechanisms of commonly used tasks. We assessed 201 healthy participants aged between 18 and 75 years old (mean = 45.29, SD = 15.06) and with a formal education between 5 and 23 years (mean = 11.10, SD =4.68), of these 62.87% were female. We used two language batteries: the Montreal-Toulouse language assessment battery and the Montreal Communication Evaluation Battery – brief version. Using a Principal Component Analysis with a Direct-oblimin rotation, we discovered four language components: pictorial semantics (auditory comprehension, naming and writing naming tasks), language-executive (unconstrained, semantic, and phonological verbal fluency tasks), transcoding and semantics (reading, dictation, and semantic judgment tasks), and pragmatics (indirect speech acts interpretation and metaphors interpretation tasks). These four components explained 59.64% of the total variance. Secondarily, we sought to verify the association between these components with two executive measures in a subset of 33 participants. Cognitive flexibility was assessed by the time B-time A score of the Trail Making Test and working memory by the total of correct answers on the n-back test. The language-executive component was associated with a better cognitive flexibility score (r=-.355) and the transcoding and semantics one with a better working memory performance (r=.397). Our findings confirm the heterogeneity process underlying language tasks and their intrinsic relationship to other cognitive components, such as executive functions.

Une attention de plus en plus importante est accordée à la santé mentale au travail en raison, entre autres de la perte de bien-être chez les personnes atteintes d’un trouble mental courant (ex. trouble anxieux, trouble dépressif), ainsi que des coûts associés à l’absentéisme. Quand il est question d’invalidité au travail, plusieurs acteurs sont normalement impliqués dont le médecin de famille et le psychiatre lorsque nécessaire. Dans le cadre de ce mémoire conçu sous le format d’articles, deux articles sont présentés. Le premier article aborde plusieurs dilemmes auxquels les médecins traitants sont confrontés lors de la gestion de la reprise professionnelle d’un patient avec un trouble mental courant. Ces dilemmes sont illustrés par trois vignettes cliniques et appuyés par la littérature scientifique. Les trois vignettes portent sur les dilemmes relatifs aux thèmes suivants: 1) l’évaluation du potentiel thérapeutique des arrêts de travail; 2) le rôle d’expert octroyé aux médecins traitants et au processus d’évaluation de la capacité à travailler; 3) les aspects administratifs liés à cette évaluation; 4) la relation thérapeutique médecin-patient. La littérature nous indique que ce sont des dilemmes récurrents chez les médecins traitants dans le contexte de la gestion de la reprise professionnelle à la suite d’un trouble mental courant. Dans une suite logique, le deuxième article présente une étude qualitative effectuée auprès de médecins de famille et de psychiatres. Les objectifs de cette étude sont de documenter les tâches de ces cliniciens liées à la gestion d’une invalidité en raison d’un trouble mental courant, d’identifier les éléments facilitants et entravants qu’ils perçoivent dans le processus d’arrêt de travail et de retour au travail. Il est par ailleurs question de dégager les besoins de formation et d’outils qui pourront éventuellement être mis en place pour les aider dans l’accomplissement de leurs tâches. La collecte de données a été faite via des groupes de discussion (focus groups) totalisant trois groupes de médecins de famille et deux groupes de psychiatres (N=28). Tous les enregistrements ont été retranscrits en verbatim et par la suite codifiés. Les réponses générées par les groupes de discussion ont fait émerger 180 unités thématiques réparties sur 4 grands thèmes, lesquels sont récurrents pour chaque objectif de recherche : 1) évaluer/documenter, 2) prescrire/traiter, 3) communiquer/collaborer/réseauter avec les autres acteurs et 4) arbitrer/défendre. Les unités thématiques démontrent l’importance de la collaboration entre les acteurs et d’une communication efficace entre ces derniers. Il ressort également que ces cliniciens aimeraient être mieux formés pour arrimer connaissances et pratiques. La santé mentale au travail est une thématique qui prend de plus en plus d’ampleur et de préoccupation au sein de notre société. La mise en place d’outils et de formation adaptés pour aider les médecins de famille et psychiatres à mieux exécuter leurs tâches ne pourrait qu’avoir un impact positif sur la pratique de ces cliniciens et leurs patients. / An increasing amount of attention is being given to mental health in the workplace, due in part to the loss of well-being for individuals with common mental disorders (ex. anxiety disorder, depressive disorder), as well as the costs associated with absenteeism. In the context of this paper-based master, two articles will be presented. The first article will address three clinical vignettes and the dilemmas physicians may encounter in managing the vocational rehabilitation of a patient struggling with a common mental disorder. The vignettes will be supported by literature. Three clinical cases address dilemmas related to the following themes: 1) the assessment of the therapeutic potential of work absence, 2) the expert role given to clinicians and the process of assessing work disability, 3) the administrative aspects related to this assessment and 4) the impact of this assessment on therapeutic alliance between the clinician and his/her patient with common mental disorders. The literature tells us that these are recurring dilemmas for clinicians when managing the return to work of their patients with common mental disorders. The second article will present a qualitative study carried out among family physicians and psychiatrists. The objectives of this study are to document the clinical tasks related to the management of a disability due to a common mental disorder, identify the facilitators and barriers perceived in this process and identify training needs which could potentially help these clinicians perform their tasks, thereby enabling sustainable recovery of the worker. This is a qualitative study which collects data through focus groups, including three groups of family physicians and two groups of psychiatrists (N=28). All recordings were transcribed as stated and coded. The responses generated by the focus groups identified 180 thematic units distributed over 4 main themes, which are recurring for each research objective: 1) assess/document; 2) prescribe/treat; 3) communicate/collaborate/network with other stakeholders and 4) arbitrate/defend. The thematic units demonstrate the importance of collaboration between stakeholders and having effective communication among them. It also emerges that these clinicians would like to be better trained to align knowledge and practice. Mental health in the workplace is a topic which is becoming increasingly important and of concern within our society. The implementation of adapted tools and training to help family physicians and psychiatrists to better perform their tasks can only have a positive impact on the practice of these clinicians and their patients.

Vi har studerat vilken inverkan digitala verktyg har på redovisningskonsulters dagliga arbete. Syftet med studien är att förklara hur och varför redovisningskonsulter använder och upplever digitala verktyg i sitt arbete. Den teoretiska referensramen utgår från tidigare forskning om digitaliseringens påverkan på redovisningsbranschen, digitala verktyg som används i redovisningskonsulters arbetsuppgifter dessutom lyfts institutionell teori för att förklara förändringen i redovisningsbranschen. Metoden som vi utgått från i vår studie har varit en kvalitativ metod där vi genomfört semistrukturerade intervjuer med sju deltagande respondenter. Vårt resultat har visat att digitala verktyg har bidragit till förbättringar och effektiviseringar. Genom att implementera digitala verktyg har redovisningskonsulter kunnat minska manuellt arbete och öka automatiseringen och integreringen med olika försystem och bokföringsprogram. Detta har lett till tids- och kostnadsbesparingar samt högre grad av noggrannhet. Studien visar också att införandet av RPA och AI-teknologi erbjuder en intressant framtid, vilket frigör tid för mer värdeskapande arbetsuppgifter som rådgivning, kundkontakt och analysarbete. För att möta risken för att redovisningskonsultyrket försvinner betonar studien behovet av anpassning, kompetensutveckling och säkerhet iimplementeringen av digitalisering. Samt bristen på digitala verktyg i redovisningskonsulternas utbildning, där ansvaret för detta i dagsläget ligger på redovisningsbyråerna. / We have studied the impact of digital tools on the daily work of accounting consultants. The purpose of the study is to explain how and why accounting consultants use and perceive digital tools in their work. The theoretical framework draws on previous research on the impact of digitalization on the accounting industry, digital tools used in the tasks of accounting consultants, and institutional theory to explain the changes in the accounting industry. The method we have used in our study was qualitative, involving semi-structured interviews with seven participating respondents. Our results have shown that digital tools have contributed to improvements and efficiencies. By implementing digital tools, accounting consultants have been able to reduce manual work and increase automation and integration with various subsystems and accounting software. This has resulted in time and cost savings, as well as improved accuracy. The study also shows that the adoption of RPA and AI technology offers a promising future, freeing up time for more value-added tasks such as advisory services, client interaction, and analytical work. To address the risk of the accounting consultant profession disappearing, the study emphasizes the need for adaptation, skills development, and security in the implementation of digitalization. It also highlights the lack of digital tool training for accounting consultants, with the responsibility for this currently lying on accounting firms.

Floor-based Automated Guided Vehicles (AGV) are important for automating transportation tasks in semiconductor manufacturing facilities. They are either used as homogenous systems in low throughput areas (see Ndiaye et al., 2016) or complementarily with ceiling-mounted Overhead Hoist Transport (OHT) systems (see Keil et al., 2018). AGV systems provide the option to exchange transport carriers between its vehicles during transport execution. This increases the flexibility to allocate tasks to the vehicles and could lead to better system performance.

The purpose of this study was to bridge the existing gap in the literature by exploring the relationship between the Adlerian concept of social interest, expressed through cooperation and conflict, and perceived level of marital happiness. This study explored behaviors along a continuum of social interest from cooperation to conflict. Preexisting data were used from the longitudinal Marital Instability over the Life Course Project funded by the United States Department of Health and Human Services and the National Institute on Aging (Booth, Johnson, Amato, & Rogers, 2003). Data from telephone surveys were collected in 1980, 1983, 1988, 1992-1994, 1997, and 2000 from married individuals who were between the ages of 18 and 55 in 1980. The initial random sample was 2,033, but attrition took place for each of the subsequent waves, resulting in 762 respondents in 2000. Results of hierarchical regression analyses revealed statistically significant relationships in a positive direction between cooperation and marital happiness, and in a negative direction between conflict and marital happiness across all waves of data. Cooperation and conflict as indicators of social interest accounted for between 26% and 37% of the variance in marital happiness, except for the 1988 wave, which was an aberration on all measures and accounted for only 12% of the variance. This still exceeded the a priori effect size selected for the study, a standardized regression coefficient of |.10|. Implications for theory, research and practice include focus on the link between higher levels of social interest as demonstrated through cooperative behaviors and greater marital happiness, one between conflict and lower levels of marital happiness. Marriage and family therapists need to consider the underlying goals of conflict such as power that may reveal underdeveloped levels of social interest. Counselors need to focus on helping couples develop relational skills that include the social provisions needed like empathy, understanding, and support. Future research is needed to more clearly define behaviors along the continuum of social interest.