This bachelor’s thesis presents a study mainly focused on players’ motivations of purchasing cosmetics items in Path of Exile, a free-to-play, action role-playing game. A “Theory of Consumption” is used in this paper as the theoretical framework. This study is conducted by running nine interviews and one survey, where 33 sets of results are collected in total. It was found that there were two main motivations for purchasing cosmetic items in that game. The dominant one is “conditional” motivation which is to support the game or game company, while the second one is “emotional” motivation which is to bring certain feelings within the game experience. However, the study found that one non-cosmetic item in Path of Exile was also purchased very frequently when it comes to the microtransactions of this game, so a “functional” motivation will also be mentioned in this paper. This study could be helpful for game designers wanting to figure out a good monetization strategy which does not alienate, but welcome players, especially in free-to-play games. / Denna kandidatuppsats presenterar en studie huvudsakligen fokuserad på spelarnas motivationer till köp av kosmetiska objekt i Path of Exile, ett ‘free-to-play’ actionrollspel. En “Konsumtionsteori” används i denna uppsats som dess teoretiska grund. Denna studie genomfördes genom nio intervjuer och en enkät där totalt 33 olika svar samlades in. Undersökningen visade att det fanns två huvudsakliga skäl till köp av kosmetiska objekt i spelet. Det dominerande skälet visades vara “villkorligt baserad” där spelare vill visa support åt spelet eller spelföretaget, medan nästa skäl visades vara “känslomässigt baserad” där spelarnas känslor höjs genom köp som förgyller spelupplevnaden. Studien visade även att den enda icke kosmetiska varan i Path of Exile köptes mycket ofta i relation till andra mikrotransaktioner i spelet, så ett “funktionellt baserat” skäl kommer även presenteras i uppsatsen. Denna studie kan bli hjälpsam åt speldesigners som vill lista ut en god monetäriseringsstrategi som inte fjärmar, utan välkomnar spelare, särskilt inom ‘free-to-play’ spel.

In this study, I used quantitative content analysis to analyze the materiality matrixes of sustainability reports to identify the sustainability priorities of major companies in Sweden. I focus on the 131 largest listed companies in the country within six industries: material, consumer goods, capital goods, daily goods, banks, and investment companies. The research questions include: (1) What are the primary focus areas of materiality for the largest listed companies in Sweden by industry? (2) On an overarching level, is the focus among all companies more environmental or social? (3) What are the primary applications of materiality analysis in the context of corporate decision-making in Sweden? The findings reveal that the primary materiality topics for Swedish companies are business ethics and climate impact. The focus is slightly more environmental, with 54% of companies having more of an environmental focus. Interestingly, only 22% of companies mentioned using materiality strategically, while a larger portion (40%) use materiality to identify their sustainability priorities. This research highlights the need for companies in Sweden to prioritize strategic sustainability in the face of new legislation, such as the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). Overall, this study demonstrates the value of analyzing materiality matrixes for identifying sustainability priorities in different industries and provides insights into using materiality analysis in corporate decision-making. The results can inform future sustainability strategies for Swedish companies and contribute to the broader conversation around sustainable business practices.

Mixed-format tests containing both multiple-choice and constructed-response items are widely used on educational tests. Such tests combine the broad content coverage and efficient scoring of multiple-choice items with the assessment of higher-order thinking skills thought to be provided by constructed-response items. However, the combination of both item formats on a single test complicates the use of psychometric procedures. The purpose of this dissertation was to examine how characteristics of mixed-format tests and composition of the common-item set impact the accuracy of equating results in the common-item nonequivalent groups design. Operational examinee item responses for two classes of data were considered in this dissertation: (1) operational test forms and (2) pseudo-test forms that were assembled from portions of operational test forms. Analyses were conducted on three mixed-format tests from the Advanced Placement Examination program: English Language, Spanish Language, and Chemistry. For the operational test form analyses, two factors of investigation were considered as follows: (1) difference in proficiency between old and new form groups of examinees and (2) relative difficulty of multiple-choice and constructed-response items. For the pseudo-test form analyses, two additional factors of investigation were considered: (1) format representativeness of the common-item set and (2) statistical representativeness of the common-item set. For each study condition, two traditional equating methods, frequency estimation and chained equipercentile equating, and two item response theory (IRT) equating methods, IRT true score and IRT observed score methods, were considered. There were five main findings from the operational and pseudo-test form analyses. (1) As the difference in proficiency between old and new form groups of examinees increased, bias also tended to increase. (2) Relative to the criterion equating relationship for a given equating method, increases in bias were typically largest for frequency estimation and smallest for the IRT equating methods. However, it is important to note that the criterion equating relationship was different for each equating method. Additionally, only one smoothing value was analyzed for the traditional equating methods. (3) Standard errors of equating tended to be smallest for IRT observed score equating and largest for chained equipercentile equating. (4) Results for the operational and pseudo-test analyses were similar when the pseudo-tests were constructed to be similar to the operational test forms. (5) Results were mixed regarding which common-item set composition resulted in the least bias.

The purpose of this research is to provide information about the psychometric properties of technology-enhanced (TE) items and the effects these items have on the content validity of an assessment. Specifically, this research investigated the impact that the inclusion of TE items has on the construct of a mathematics test, the technical properties of these items, and the influence these item types have on test characteristics. An empirical dataset was used to investigate the impact of including TE items on a multiple-choice (MC) assessment. The test used was the Iowa End-of-Course Algebra I (IEOC-A) assessment. The sample included 3850 students from the state of Iowa who took the IEOC-A assessment in the spring of 2012. The base form of the Algebra EOC assessment consisted of 30 MC items. Sixty TE items were developed and aligned to the same blueprint as the MC items. These items were appended in sets of five to the base form, in effect resulting in 12 different test forms. The forms were randomly assigned to students during the spring administration window. Several methods were used in an attempt to form a more complete understanding of the content characteristics and technical properties of TE items. This research first examined whether adding TE items to an established MC exam had an effect on the construct of the test. The factor analysis confirmed a two-factor model comprising latent factors of MC and TE items, indicating that TE items may add a new dimension to the test. Subsequent to these findings, a more thorough analysis of the item pool was conducted and IRT analyses were done to investigate item information, test information, and relative efficiency. This analysis indicated that there may be a difference in the way students perform on MC and TE items. There is evidence in this particular pool of items that there is a difference in these two item types. This difference may manifest itself as an additional, perhaps unintended, construct on the exam. Additionally, TE items may perform differently depending on the ability level of the student. Specifically, TE items may provide more information, and measure the construct more efficiently than MC items at higher levels of ability. Finally, the quantity of TE items included on a test has the potential to affect the relative efficiency of the instrument, underscoring the importance of selecting items that reinforce the purpose and uses of the test.

This study was designed to refine and validate a 160-item self-report instrument which drew its items from personality theories and from clinical practice related to delinquency. The aim was to estimate the usefulness of items descriptive of delinquent behavior by testing their reliability and discriminative power. There were two objectives. First: to test a set of items for their power to discriminate delinquent from non-delinquent responses which referred to delinquent and nondelinquent behavior. Second, to validate the power of the selected set of items to discriminate delinquent from non-delinquent youths in a second mixed group. Both objectives were realized in that significantly discriminating items emerged, which when administered to a second group, correctly classified 80% of the tested youths. The subjects in this study were youths who were selected as delinquents (n = 125) and nondelinquents (N = 125). The items used in the measuring instrument were collected over a period of several. years and based on theoretic al and clinical resources. Selected items referred to family togetherness, family supportiveness, limit-setting and behavior consequences, self-esteem and success, and school functioning. The results of the study provide a set of items which may be administered to help describe dis social behavior. The items may be used to educate parents, other adults, and students in recognizing some psycho-social behaviors related to interpersonal social behavior.

El objetivo del presente estudio es el de identificar las tendencias en la traducción de elementos culturales específicos en traducciones de inglés a croata y, posteriormente, correlacionarlas con los desarrollos que ocurrieron en el contexto general en el que se produjeron las traducciones. El estudio se propuso probar hipótesis que predicen una tendencia creciente por emplear tipos de soluciones de asimilación al traducir elementos culturales específicos y también relacionar esta tendencia con los mayores flujos de traducción. Las hipótesis se evalúan usando un corpus de novelas de detectives traducidas en tres períodos: principios de los 60, finales de los 70 y la década del 2000. Los datos cuantitativos obtenidos por medio de análisis textuales se unen con datos cualitativos obtenidos en entrevistas son los agentes de las traducciones. En la conclusión se discuten estos resultados con el objetivo de establecer posibles correlaciones entre los datos del análisis textual, los datos de las entrevistas y los datos extratextuales con las variables contextuales.

Abstract As for the biotechnology industry development had constructed the basis of favorable environment in Taiwan, government gives fresh impetus to biotechnology industry in recent years. The Executive Yuan established ¡§Bio Taiwan Commission (BTC)¡¨ on 2004. For the purpose of strengthen the development blueprint of biotechnology industry; the BTC belong to the rank of national policy. The government shows its determination to develop this new and developing industry by marking biotechnology industry as priority event on biotechnology industry strategy convention in latest 5 years and ¡§The challenge to year 2008 nation development significant plan¡¨. The management problems, which are brought with this new and developing industry, needs to be resolved one by one. This study focus on biotechnology industry, which is high risk long-term development, huge money investment on research and development, people¡¦s conservative investment attitude¡Ketc characters. The purpose of this study is not only to establish an valid assessment dimensions and assessment items on investment evaluation of venture capital; but also that in order to reduce the risk of investment. This study not only examines the investment evaluation standard on starting enterprises in the past but also generalizes overall assessment dimensions based on characters of biotechnology industry. The overall assessment dimensions are: management team; product technology; market size and marketing; financial management and patent. The study also includes individual assessment items and discussion of significance level. These assessment items include team competency; social experience; product features; product technology and manufacture; marketing access; financial forecast rationality; capital requirements; patent layout and contract¡Ketc. The result demonstrate that investment manager insist on attention significance level from these items analysis. This research method is based on questionnaires and in-depth interview, which establish appropriate investment standard on biotechnology industry. The research outcome shows management team is first priority on overall assessment dimensions. This research explain goal-oriented; management ability in a team; product life cycle; critical technology; marketing access; capital expenditure; stock price rationality; patent range and related party transactions that are first tier on significance level. These studies reveal that investors focus on what evaluation factor is import and provide for a reference to fund-raising of biotechnology companies in the future. Key words: venture capital, investment evaluation, assessment dimensions, assessment items, significance level

The aim of this thesis was to define what strategies were applied to translate culture-specific items in the novel "Middlesex" by Jeffrey Eugenides. The notion of culture, translation and issues of the translatability of culture-specific items; translation strategies and cultural categories were defined. / Šio darbo tikslas - nustatyti kokiomis vertimo strategijomis buvo verčiamos kultūrinės realijos Jeffrey Eugenides romane "Midlseksas". Apibrėžtos kultūros, vertimo sąvokos bei problemos, su kuriomis susiduriama verčiant kultūrines realijas, taip pat vertimo strategijos bei kategorijos, į kurias yra skirstomos realijos.

Translation process of fiction is a complex activity. In order to get a translated product with the same effect and value as of the original different competences of a translator are necessary, including intercultural awareness. Different cultures have different experiences of life. Therefore, whenever a cultural gap appears a translator has to decide how to deal with it while translating. The study seeks to answer what possible ways for translating CSIs exist and which of them were applied while translating the novel “The World According to Garp” by John Irving. / Grožinės literatūros vertimas – sudėtingas procesas. Tam, kad vertimas atitiktų originalo vertę, vertėjui būtinas tarpkultūrinis sąmoningumas. Skirtingos kultūros turi skirtingą gyvenimo patirtį. Todėl vertėjas turi nuspręsti kaip elgtis esant kultūriniam atotrūkiui. Darbe aptariama kultūrinių realijų samprata bei analizuojamos vertimo strategijos, taikytos verčiant Džono Irvingo romaną „Pasaulis pagal Garpą”.

The dissertation is based on the analysis of thirty episodes of the American television series Friends with the focus on the CSIs (Culture Specific Items) and how these differences have been handled by Chinese translators who produced the subtitles for the English-Chinese translation. The analysis was based on the assumption that Mainland China’s culture is different from the US culture so people in these two countries may have problems in understanding CSIs if they are translated literally and if the subtitle translation is not adapted to the target audience. Such adaptation is normally known as localisation. The cultural differences that are ingrained in CSIs might have to be handled with caution in the production of subtitles. The main objective of the dissertation has been to analyse different translation choices which are currently used by the translators in questions, dealing with CSIs where cultural differences between mainland China and the US arise. The research discovered that repetition of CSIs is a strategy which underperformed, failing to help the Chinese audience to comprehend the cultural connotations associated with the CSIs. The paper has provided some recommendations as to how the subtitle translation of such CSIs might be handled in such a way that the audience will have a better understanding of the same.