Recent research has investigated the moderating effects of environmental characteristics on the relationships between top management team heterogeneities and firm performance but has given little attention to the moderating role of board composition. This study examines the moderating effects of the proportion of outside board membership on the relationships between top management team heterogeneities and firm performance. The upper echelons theory would contend that outside directors with their valuable resources (information, skills, and network) and the tendency to challenge and initiate cognitive conflicts with top management teams can improve the quality of strategic decision making process and firm performance. To test these predictions, it is hypothesized that the greater the proportion of outside directors, the more positive the relationship between top management team tenure heterogeneity, educational heterogeneity, functional background heterogeneity, and firm performance. Fortune 500 companies were chosen as the sample of the study. I utilized moderated hierarchical regression to analyze the data. The results do not support the predictions. Several theoretical and methodological issues are discussed.

Author's name: Bc. Sára Miczová Supervisor:: Mgr. Miriama Dědková, DiS Opponent: Thesis title: Occupational therapy practise guidelines in patients with functional upper limb impairment after stroke in subacute phase To be able to provide occupational therapy intervention of high quality the occupatioal therpaists should rely on relevant standards of clinical care and clinical guidelines. (Švestková, 2018). Occupational therapists as well as other members of the interdisciplinar team provide professional care to the patients recovering from stroke. Those patients often have to deal with upper limb impairment which leads to decrese of quality of life. Relevant studies focused on this topic were searched via key words in PubMed, Web of Science and OVID Evidence Based Medicine Reviews databasis. The criterias of selection were: public access to the content, english language which were mainly focused on stroke patients rehabilitation. The suggestion of guideline was created based on methods accepted by department. The occupational therapist as well as physiotherapeutist of early rehabilitation were included in the process of creating the guideline using the GRADE programme for it. Only 48 out of 4054 studies were used, these were divided into two cathegories, one being the cathegory of assessment, the...

The aim of this study is to investigate 1) students’ attitudes towards English, 2) students’ attitudes towards reading in English and 3) if there is a correlation between students’ attitudes and their results in a reading comprehension test. In total, 39 students from three different classes volunteered for this study. The data were collected by using a questionnaire regarding students’ attitudes towards English and reading in English as well as by letting the participants take part in a reading comprehension test. The results show that students’ attitudes towards English does not necessarily play a part in how well they perform in a reading comprehension test.

The aim of this study is to examine how social science textbooks for upper secondary schools portrays the term “democracy”. Additionally, the study aims to examine the similarities and differences between the textbooks and determine the prevailing overall perspective on democracy. To help do this an analytical tool consisting of five criteria has been constructed based on Robert A. Dahl's theory on democratic processes and John Dewey's view on the role and importance of education for a democracy. These five criteria are: Effective participation/enlightened understanding, voting equality, control of the agenda, inclusiveness, and the role of education in a democracy. A total of six textbooks, based on the latest curriculum from 2011, have been examined and analysed.  The result and analysis of the study generally shows that the textbooks mainly focus on describing the formal democratic decision-making processes and principles without presenting any deeper reasoning for why these are important for democracy. In this context, representative democracy and direct democracy are often highlighted and compared to each other. The informal areas of society where democratic decision-making are made are generally only mentioned in passing or receive minor presentations. The role and importance of education for democracy are only mentioned in some of the textbooks, though school is often used as an example of an area of society where direct democracy is prevalent.  These are the overall similarities that exists across all textbooks. Some differences exist between the various textbooks, but these are only minor in nature. The main difference lies in what aspects of democracy each textbook chooses to highlight rather than the portrayal of democracy itself being any radically different.

This independent project investigated which teaching activities were used by teachers of English in Swedish classrooms in order to teach vocabulary, if there were any differences between secondary school and upper secondary school and how the teachers assessed that their activities had worked. Four teachers, two at secondary school and two at upper secondary school, were interviewed. The teachers answered ten predetermined questions about different aspects of vocabulary and how it is taught in a Swedish setting. The results showed that there are both similarities and differences between the educational levels. Teachers at secondary school preferred to use the coursebook and grammar-translation, even though the syllabus is communicative. The preferred activity amongst the upper secondary school teachers was to use reading in order to expand their students’ vocabularies. The teachers assessed their learners in various ways, for example through grammar-translation, book-talks, and national tests.

English language learning is an indispensable part of Chinese students’ education. As a core subject tested in the high-stakes national college entrance examination, English plays a decisive role in Chinese upper secondary students’ schooling. According to the Canadian social psychologist, Robert Gardner, when learning another language as a formal school course, motivation is a critical determinant of successful learning outcomes. Studies on motivation to learn English in China give precedence to tertiary education; empirical studies of secondary education are underrepresented. Drawing on a comparative perspective, this study investigated Chinese upper secondary students’ motivation to learn English from the aspects of genders, age, and majors. A questionnaire survey was undertaken to assemble data from 120 participants in an upper secondary school in Chengdu city. The results indicated that, the participants at large were positively motivated to learn English, and their motivation was preponderantly instrumentally oriented (e.g., educational qualification, occupational prospect, etc.). A statistically significant difference in motivation between the female and male participants was identified, namely that the females demonstrated a stronger motivation and were willing to expend more effort and perseverance to learn English. Neither age nor major was found to make any significant difference to motivation. The pedagogical implications suggested in this study, sheds light on tackling the issues of developing a long-term strategy for promoting sustainable motivation, as well as underpinning the English language pedagogy in Chinese upper secondary education.

Let (Formula presented.) be a graph. For two disjoint sets of vertices (Formula presented.) and (Formula presented.), set (Formula presented.) dominates set (Formula presented.) if every vertex in (Formula presented.) is adjacent to at least one vertex in (Formula presented.). In this paper we introduce the upper domatic number (Formula presented.), which equals the maximum order (Formula presented.) of a vertex partition (Formula presented.) such that for every (Formula presented.), (Formula presented.), either (Formula presented.) dominates (Formula presented.) or (Formula presented.) dominates (Formula presented.), or both. We study properties of the upper domatic number of a graph, determine bounds on (Formula presented.), and compare (Formula presented.) to a related parameter, the transitivity (Formula presented.) of (Formula presented.).

Background Efficient shoulder movement depends on the ability of central nervous system to integrate sensory information and to create an appropriate motor command. Various daily encountered factors can potentially compromise the execution of the command, such as fatigue. This study explored how fatigue influences shoulder movements during upper limb reaching. Methods Forty healthy participants were randomly assigned to one of two groups: Control or Fatigue Group. All participants completed an upper limb reaching task at baseline and post-experimental, during which they reached four targets located at 90° of shoulder abduction, 90° external rotation at 90° abduction, 120° scaption, and 120° flexion in a virtual reality environment. Following the baseline phase, the Fatigue Group completed a shoulder fatigue protocol, while Controls took a 10-minute break. Thereafter, the reaching task was repeated. Upper limb kinematic (joint angles and excursions) and spatiotemporal (speed and accuracy) data were collected during the reaching task. Electromyographic activity of the anterior and middle deltoids were also collected to characterize fatigue. Two-way repeated-measures ANOVA were performed to determine the effects of Time, Group and of the interaction between these factors. Results The Fatigue group showed decreased mean median power frequency and increased electromyographic amplitudes of the anterior deltoid (p < 0.05) following the fatigue protocol. Less glenohumeral elevation, increased trunk flexion and rotation and sternoclavicular elevation were also observed in the Fatigue group (Group x Time interaction, p < 0.05). The Control group improved their movement speed and accuracy in post-experimental phase, while the Fatigue group showed a decrease of movement speed and no accuracy improvement (Group x Time interaction, p < 0.05). Conclusion In a fatigued state, changes in movement strategy were observed during the reaching task, including increased trunk and sternoclavicular movements and less glenohumeral movement. Performance was altered as shown by the lack of accuracy improvement over time and a decrease in movement speed in the Fatigue group.

A new fossil species, Tsuga xianfengensis Xing et Zhou, n. sp., is reported based on two compressed seed cones. The fossil cones were discovered from the upper Miocene Xiaolongtan Formation at the Xianfeng Basin of Yunnan, southwestern China. The discovery of the Tsuga cones confirms the presence of Tsuga in the Miocene of central Yunnan and represents the earliest Tsuga macrofossils in the southwestern China. The new species reveals a close affinity with East Asian Tsuga species, T. chinensis and T. dumosa. It provides fossil evidence to support the molecular data that the Asian clade might be differentiated in the Miocene.

A new species of Cucubalus is described based on two fossil seeds recovered from the upper Pliocene Sanying Formation in northwestern Yunnan Province, southwestern China. The seeds are characterized by a reniform to circular outline in shape, and sinuous and discontinuous rugulae made of rod-like elements radiating from the hilum region to the dorsal margin. The combination of these characteristics shows their close resemblance to the extant genus Cucubalus in the Caryophyllaceae. A morphological principal coordinates (PCO) analysis further supports the assignment to this genus. Cucubalus is a monotypic genus today, but the late Pliocene fossil seeds have been described as a new species, Cucubalus prebaccifer Huang, Liu et Zhou, sp. nov. This newly documented Cucubalus fossil, representing the first fossil record of this genus, implies that the genus has existed in northwestern Yunnan, southwestern China, at least since the late Pliocene. It provides important information on the past biodiversity and biogeography of both the genus Cucubalus and the fossil-scant family Caryophyllaceae.