Patterns of articles published in the Journal of Mental Health Counseling (JMHC) from 1994 through 2009 were reviewed. Characteristics of authors (e.g., sex, employment setting, nation of domicile) and articles (e.g., topic, type, design, sample, sample size, participant type, statistical procedures and sophistication) are described and analyzed for trends over time.

Patterns of articles accepted for publication in the Journal of College Counseling from the past 12 years were reviewed in this metastudy. Results were described and statistically analyzed to identify trends over time in characteristics of authors, including sex, institutional classifications, employment setting, and domicile, and characteristics of articles, including article type, research design, sample size, types of participants, and statistical procedures.

Patterns of articles published in The Career Development Quarterly (CDQ) from 1990 to 2011 were reviewed in this metastudy. Author characteristics (e.g., gender, employment setting, nation of domicile) and article characteristics (e.g., topic, type, design, sample, sample size, participant type, statistical procedures and sophistication) were described and analyzed for trends over time. Significant changes were noted in increased proportions of female authors, international contributors, research articles, more sophisticated research designs, and decreased numbers of practitioner-authors. These trends highlight a robust journal that continues to evolve to address changing career development and counseling challenges.

Background: The past decade has yielded changes in the education and training of audiologists and technological advancements that have become widely available for clinical balance function testing. It is unclear if recent advancements in vestibular instrumentation or the transition to an AuD degree have affected audiologists’ vestibular clinical practice or opinions.Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine predominant opinions and practices for vestibular assessment (VA) and vestibular rehabilitation (VR) over the past decade and between master’s- and AuD-level audiologists.Method: A 31-question survey was administered to audiologists via U.S. mail in 2003 (N = 7,500) and electronically in 2014 (N = 9,984) with a response rate of 12% and 10%, respectively.Results: There was an increase in the number of audiologists providing vestibular services in the past decade. Most respondents agreed that audiologists were the most qualified professionals to conduct VA. Less than half of the surveyed audiologists felt that graduate training was adequate for VA. AuD-level audiologists were more satisfied with graduate training and felt more comfortable performing VA compared to master’s-level audiologists. Few respondents agreed that audiologists were the most qualified professionals to conduct VR or that graduate training prepared them to conduct VR. The basic vestibular test battery was unchanged across surveys and included: calorics, smooth pursuit, saccades, search for spontaneous, positional, gaze and optokinetic nystagmus, Dix‐Hallpike, case history, and hearing evaluation. There was a trend toward greater use of air (versus water) calorics, videonystagmography (versus electronystagmography), and additional tests of vestibular and balance function.Conclusions: VA is a growing specialty area in the field of audiology. Better training opportunities are needed to increase audiologists’ knowledge and skills for providing vestibular services. The basic tests performed during VA have remained relatively unchanged over the past 10 yr.

The aim of the thesis is to identify new technologies currently used in retail and to evaluate the attitudes of domestic customers to these technologies. Then, based on the findings, devise recommendations on the use of these new information technologies. The diploma thesis deals with individual information technologies which are used in the Czech Republic and abroad, but also with those that are still being developed. With the help of research, the topic of retail technology is viewed from the perspective of customers.

The diploma thesis maps interactive teaching in high school as a actual phenomenon. The aim of the thesis is to understand the current situation within the interactive teaching and to introduce possibilities how to realize the teaching with the elements of interactivity. The theoretical part describes various views of interactivity and its wildcards. This results in the characteristic elements of interactive teaching and the benefits that interactive teaching brings. The thesis also introduces current digital technologies that can be used in school education. It specifies what the specific technologies can be used for, what their advantages and disadvantages are. In the empirical part, the thesis examines one secondary school in Prague Hostivař for a closer understanding of the current situation of interactive teaching. This is done by using a questionnaire survey. The part of the empirical part is the design and implementation of teaching activities using interactivity, which are based on the theoretical basis and information found by the research. The activities are carried out directly in the classroom and subsequently evaluated by the pupils themselves. Subsequently, the activities are evaluated by the usability within the classroom, their versatility of use and the risks that they may face in...

Tonsillectomy, adenoidectomy and myringotomy are the most common surgical procedures undergone by children. Medical opinion regarding the appropriateness of these procedures remains contentious, and considerable resources have been expended in the formulation and distribution of relevant practice guidelines. The impact of this surgery on the child, community and private and public health resources is considerable, yet there has been little examination of surgery rates and trends, or of the characteristics of children who undergo surgery. This thesis addressed five major questions regarding this surgery in New South Wales, Australia. The first three related to population rates: the level of surgery among NSW children, comparability with international rates, trends over time and the effect of guidelines. Comprehensive hospital data between 1981 and 1999 were analysed. Major findings were a higher myringotomy rate in NSW than reported internationally, the short-term effect of guidelines, and a major shift towards children having surgery at a younger age. The remaining questions asked whether children who had surgery differed from other children in their use of health services prior to surgery, and if so, whether their utilization reverted to the norm following surgery. Matched records of a population cohort of 6239 NSW children, born during January 1990, were extracted from Health Insurance Commission data, and their claims for medical services followed retrospectively from birth to 8 years. Children who had privately funded surgery were found to use more medical services than other children, and, most unexpectedly, this did not change following surgery. The results suggest potential non-clinical factors influencing this excess utilization. This is the first population study to examine health service utilisation by these children and it has identified an important new risk factor for surgery.

This research developed a framework describing students’ developing understanding of function. The research started with the problem: How might typical learning paths of secondary school students’ developing understanding of function be described and assessed? The following principles and research questions guided the development of the framework. Principle 1. The framework should be research-based. Principle 2. The framework should include key aspects of the function concept. Principle 3. The framework should be in a form that would enable teachers to assess and monitor students’ developing understanding of this concept. Principle 4. The framework should reflect students’ big ideas or growth points which describe students’ key cognitive strategies, knowledge and skills in working with function tasks. Principle 5. The framework should reflect typical learning trajectories or a general trend of the growth points in students’ developing understanding of function. The following questions guided the development of the framework of growth points: 1. What are the growth points in students’ developing understanding of function? 2. What information on students’ understanding of function is revealed in the course of developing the framework of growth points that would be potentially useful for teachers? The framework considered four key domains of the function concept: Graphs, Equations, Linking Representations and Equivalent Functions. Students’ understanding of function in each of these domains was described in terms of growth points. Growth points are descriptions of students’ “big ideas”. The description of each growth point highlights students’ developing conceptual understanding rather than merely procedural understanding of a mathematical concept. For example, growth points in students’ understanding of function under Equations were: 1) interpretations based on individual points; 2) interpretations based on holistic analysis of relationships; 3) interpretations based on local properties; and, 4) manipulations and transformations of functions (in equation form) as objects. he growth points in each domain are more or less ordered according to the likelihood that these “big ideas” would emerge. o identify and describe these growth points, Year 8, 9 and 10 students in Australia and the Philippines were given tasks involving function that would highlight thinking in terms of the process-object conception and the property-oriented conception of function. Students’ performance on these tasks and their strategies served as bases for the identification and description of the growth points. he research approach was interpretive and exploratory during the initial stages of analysis. The research then moved to a quantitative approach to identify typical patterns across the growth points, before returning to an interpretive phase in refining the growth points in the light of these data. The main data were collected from students in the Philippines largely through two written tests. Interviews with a sample of students also provided insights into students’ strategies and interpretations of tasks. he research outputs, the research-based framework and the assessment tasks, have the potential to provide teachers with a structure through which they can assess and develop students’ growth in the understanding of function, and their own understanding of the function concept.

<p>Frölunda-Aspvik Säteri, a company just outside Stockholm within the agriculture and forestry sector, has developed a business idea around countryside tourism as a complement to their existing business. The idea is to offer a high quality and functional way of living in small cottages surrounded by beautiful nature and landscape of cultural importance. There will also be a range of additional activities available such as hunting, canoeing, cycling etc. The project should be done with minimum impact on the surrounding environment and the importance of the ecological system should be at the forefront of all business decisions. At present the company wants to have a better understanding of what the future trends are within tourism, how its business idea fits in with future trends within tourism and how to stay competitive.</p><p>The purpose of this research paper is to identify the social driving forces that have an impact on people’s lifestyle and choice of holiday destination in the future, and present how these factors affect the travel industry. The result will then be used to evaluate the feasibility of Frölunda-Aspvik´s business idea around tourism. </p><p>A literature study has been carried out and the result of that has then been used to evaluate the company´s business idea. The main future trends are that tourists will have higher expectations, be more quality conscious and expect greater diversification regarding how they spend their holiday. This leads to travellers becoming more sophisticated. The reason can be explained by a higher disposable income and levels of education, better health, increased experience of travel and that people’s needs and expectations become more heterogeneous and individual. Many prefer several but shorter vacations spread out over the year. Time efficiency will also be crucial where demand for a combination of holiday, relaxation and various types of activities will increase. The health aspect will become more important where spa- and health destinations will be favoured. Outdoor activities and nature experiences will increase in popularity but also tourist products that are more intellectual and creative. More people expect peace and quiet where the primary purpose of the holiday is to escape from everyday life. Concern for the environment will be more significant as will the search for a deeper meaning beyond material possessions where also authenticity emerges as a selection criterion regarding tourist products and destinations.</p><p>The conclusion of the study is to further develop Frölunda-Aspvik Säteri’s intentions to benefit from future tourism by extending its activities to include holiday facilities to compliment its existing business. From the study, it is clear that the company will be able to fulfil some of the needs of what future tourists value most. However, the company should also take into consideration other external factors that have not been included in this report which are stemming from ecological, economical, political and technical origin. In some cases, particularly in a longer perspective, the impact of threats such as climate changes, increasing oil prices and downturn in the economy could imply more threats to company. These should be looked at in more detail if they decide to realise its business plan within tourism.</p>

<p>ABSTRACT</p><p>The conditions on the market are rapidly changing and businesses in Sweden need to seize signals of change in time, in order to have a strong market position. The ability to make the right decisions and react in time is vital due to the increasing competition and a mistake can have devastating consequences for a company. The aim of this thesis is to investigate what tools and methods businesses use to analyse the surrounding world, which has lead to following research question:</p><p>How do businesses analyse the surrounding and predict trends and what factors in the society should a company be attentive to while performing an analysis?</p><p>Analyses of the surrounding heritage from a term called Business Intelligence, which consist of internal and external factors. This thesis focuses of analyses of external factors, in other words the surrounding. These external aspects enrich the understanding of the internal factors and together they are the foundation that strategic planning originates from. An analysis can be performed in many different ways for instance with collaborations with consultants or by observing the society. A World Mapping method can be used to chart trends or important changes and a company can also try to identify unpredicted events by using the factor X-model. Theories by Bengt Wahlström have also been used in the study to display how trends can be analysed.</p><p>This study will analyse large food producers who have established brands on the Swedish market. A qualitative approach has been conducted where six food supplier companies and three consultant companies specialised in analysing the surrounding have been interviewed. The method has been deductive where the empirical findings has been analysed with the theoretical framework. The outcome of the research shows that collaborations with consultants is a commonly used instrument and practical methods such as scenario planning and in real life scanning are preferred as visualising factors simplifies the managing of them. Media plays a significant role, both as a tool to search and track trends but also as a tool that can increase the affect of trends and unforeseen occurrences.</p>