Childhood overweight/obesity (CHO) is a serious health concern for children and adolescents. Despite increased efforts to prevent CHO, prevalence rates have actually increased. Evidence suggests that parents are critical to successful interventions to reduce CHO among children. While research efforts aimed at parental inclusion have increased, limited research has been conducted to investigate fathers’ perception of CHO, or their influences on their children’s health. The objective of this two-phase study was to answer three research questions: a) How does the extant literature operationalize African American parental perceptions of childhood overweight/obesity? b) What are African American fathers’ perceptions of CHO? and c) How do African American fathers perceive CHO in relation to their own child’s weight status? Evidence-based studies reveal that fathers have the potential to play a significant role in CHO prevention. Phase one (literature review) revealed that published studies on parental perception of CHO either exclude fathers, include them only in data collection, and/or report no results specific to paternal perception. Thus, an exploratory qualitative study was needed to explore African American fathers’ perceptions of CHO. In phase two (qualitative study), four fathers were interviewed about their perceptions of CHO and how they contextualize this problem. The results indicated fathers believe that weight categories are racially & culturally insensitive and do not account for individual health status or differences in body/bone structure, and that parents with overweight children are financially disadvantaged, irresponsible and overworked. Fathers also indicated that colloquial terms (e.g., chunky, husky, big-boned, thick) were commonly substituted medical definitions for overweight and that child/teen sports participation was motivated by health, as well as non-health related benefits (e.g., competitiveness, educational scholarships). Further, fathers’ identification of CHO is subjective and includes visual means and parental assessment of health status (e.g., child mobility/activity levels). Implications of this study are that additional studies are needed to clarify fathers’ roles in CHO and that future studies should consider complex familial structures, as well as reframe prevention efforts to focus on optimal child health as opposed to weight labeling and focusing on parents’ accuracy in identifying weight categories.

Managing organizational knowledge is a critical issue for business. Due to the dynamic changes of environment and market demand, organizational knowledge often evolve over time and it is important to understand different patterns of organizational knowledge and their relationships with organizational competitiveness. In this research, we propose an evolutionary model of organizational knowledge. This model consists of four major stages: Variation generation, Internal Selection, Replication, and Retention. The evolution of organizational knowledge generally follows this model to evolve over time. A case study was conducted to assess the model. Evidence collected through interviews in a large semi-conductor company indicates the existence of these stages and activities. Besides, we found two evolutionary patterns driven from different knowledge sources. Their distinct features are compared in the thesis.

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As trend toward liberalization, telecom industry in Taiwan is getting more and more saturated. It means that competition between telecoms firms is getting more and more sharp. As a result, all telecoms firms are striving to gain and keep their customers and trying so hard to understand comsumer behavior on choosing telecoms firms. In the past, researches on consumer behavior are usually base on quantitative methodology. Quantitative researches on consumer behavior focused on specific moment of customers. This research is base on qualitative methodology to extend consumer behavior on choosing telecoms firm from a specific moment to a dynamic model and establishing a thorough consumer behavior on choosing telecoms firm model. This research on consumer behavior on choosing telecoms firm is base on grounded theory. By the analysis and coding process of the interview data that collected from eighteen interviewers in a theorical sampling process, this research generalizes eighty three open coding and fifteen axial coding. In the selective coding process, this research generalize three major concepts of consumer behavior on choosing telecoms firm and establishes a model of consumer behavior on choosing telecoms firm.

This dissertation explores how five specific intellectuals challenge hegemony in education and society, and express uncomfortable truths about hegemony faced by local communities in their academic practices. Their actions of free speech in regards to dangerous truths are similar to those of the ancient Greek parrhesiastes. This word, parrhesiastes, was used to describe the male citizen in ancient Greece, who had and used his rights to free speech or parrhesia. The activity of speaking freely, parrhesiazesthai, however, is not without its risks. Such speech is dangerous to the status quo, as well as the parrhesiastes. The activity is engaged despite the consequences and the parrhesiastes faces dangers and risks. It is argued that the five scholars who participated in this study are specific parrhesiastic scholars. They are specific intellectuals in their relations with academia, communities, and movements; and parrhesiastes in their actions to assure their rights to and exercise of freedom. While the ancient parrhesiastes served a critical and pedagogical role in transforming citizens to serve the best interests of the city, the specific parrhesiastic scholar, in the case of these five scholars, argues for changes in society for the benefit of citizens whose interests have been ignored or trampled. Foucault acknowledged that the work of specific intellectuals could benefit the state to the detriment of local communities or could work to transform the state to include the interests of specific communities. Specific parrhesiastic scholars choose the latter. The focus of this study is the intersection of technologies of the self with technologies of power. This intersection, which Foucault terms governmentality, comes closest to a utilitarian exploration of resistance to power and the formation of freedom, and understanding of how individuals negotiate their particular positions in truth games for resistance and freedom. The basic conditions necessary for parrhesiazesthai are "citizenship" and understanding the distinction between positive and negative forms of parrhesia. The parrhesiastic practices of the five scholars are explored through three analytical frames: (1) self-knowledge and resisting repression, seduction, and desire; (2) political activity and tactics; and (3) the self within systems of subjugation.

In 2002, Financial Holding Company Act was executed in Taiwan. In order to provide customers with ¡§one stop shopping¡¨, the act allows financial holding companies to own subsidiaries in different financial areas like banking, life insurance, property insurance and securities. However, to those groups who do not have the above subsidiaries, they meet changes and challenges of a new business condition. The saturation of whole life insurance policies and the decrease of interest rate result in the increase of the insurance premium. In this way, traditional insurance service stops improving. Under such pressure, those non-financial holding insurance companies manage to form strategic partnership with banks to develop bank-assurance market and expand marketing channels and by time achieve the goal of achievement development and stable management. This thesis aims to explore ¡§the operating mode and achievements appraisal of the strategic partnership between insurance industry and banking.¡¨ Because the bank-assurance market of Taiwan has just started, there are no numbers to assess the achievement appraisal. As a result, the thesis discusses the achievement of strategic partnership between insurance companies and banks by interviewing the managers. The research bases on literature review and question design and evaluates the achievement of strategic partnership by examining the motives of launching a strategic partnership, the conditions of choosing a partner and the interaction between both sides. The outcome of research shows, in the process to form strategic partnership, it is the insurance company¡¦s fame and reward system that determine if the insurance company is able to get into the banking system. The more the executives trust each other, the more possible they can co-operate. In the strategic partnership, both sides share resources, which is why bank-assurance expands. The chief aim of strategic partnership is to create profits, then the achievement income. The research also shows that old banks and new banks have different conditions for the strategic partnership. The insurance companies have come up with different strategies regarding their own management and the need of their partner banks. In this way, they can have long-lasting and stable management in bank-assurance.

System dynamics was founded in 1956 by Professor Jay W. Forrester from the Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Forrester mentioned the¡uLevel equation is also known as a first-order differential equation in the branch of mathematics¡K¡K¡v in the book of Principles of Systems. Hence fundamentally system dynamics is a dynamic model in the mathematical model itself, which can also be expressed as a differential equation model. Since the 17th century, differential equation has evolved to become a powerful tool for analyzing the natural processes, and it has developed several research and observation methods, such as the resolution analysis, qualitative analysis and numerical analysis. System dynamics can be applied to solve those kind of problems about high-order, nonlinear, time delay and causal feedback, and these problems are difficult to transform into mathematical models. However, researchers have already addressed many modeling approaches using the basis of system dynamics. In this study, a new transformation method is studied using system dynamics model and transforms it into differential equation model with the aid of mathematical software, applying qualitative analysis and numerical analysis to observe and analyze the differential equation model in order to understand the structure and behavior of the system dynamics model.

The R&D Alliance was developed as the third strategic option to face the environment in a rapid change world. Based on the operating mechanism of the R&D Alliance, the beneficial results such as resource gathering, development risk and capital dropping will be achieved. However, when all members in the R&D Alliance mutually cooperate for the given benefits and targets, another question about keeping the own characteristics risen and need to further reconsider it. Therefore, the connective patterns between members play an important role in determining whether these operations will be successful, especially for the Chinese-major communities which have more obvious interference hiding in relational capital. The present study focuses on pattern of the R&D Alliance from the view of the relational capital. Adopting the individual case to study two R&D Alliances related with the juridical-person institutions is the main framework of this research and the results are analyzed from the three subcomponents in the relational capital that are trust, friendship and respect. Conclusions are drawn as follows: 1.Impacts of the trust relationship in the R&D alliance: members were constrained by the long-run contact, mutual cooperation experience and the formal contract (e.g. cooperation signatures or nondisclosure agreements) to reduce member suspicions and lead the positive Impact to the R&D alliance. 2.Impacts of the friendship in the R&D alliance: through the way of the frequent interaction, the beneficial receptions, and the explicit cooperative objectives, a conflict or a distant feeling between each others will be reduced, instead of increasing communication or rapidly uniting members to smoothly work the alliance. 3.Impacts of the respect in the R&D alliance: through the way of the good-will interactions, suppressing the opportunistic behaviors, globally adopting the opinions, predicting the next move about members, regulations in the contracts as well as self-constraints, the harmonics and the advantages existed in the members will be benefited for the development of the R&D alliance. 4.Impacts of the achievements in the R&D alliance: In the operating process, the partnership in the R&D alliance achieved the goals by means of the well, routine and miscellaneous communications, an explicit objective management, and the good interactions.

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<p>ADHD är en vanligt förekommande neuropsykiatrisk störning bland barn, vilka uppvisar beteende som överaktivitet, uppmärksamhetsstörning och impulsivitet. För föräldrarna kan detta innebära svårigheter att hantera barnens beteende och sätta begränsningar. Syftet med studien var att belysa föräldrars upplevelse från sitt dagliga liv med barn med ADHD problematik. Metoden som använts var en litteraturstudie som analyserades med kvalitativ innehållsanalys och baseras på sju vetenskapliga artiklar som motsvarade syftet för studien. I resultatet framkom: Föräldrarnas uppfostringsförsök, Föräldrarnas relation, Ett minskat kontaktnät, Behov av stöd och hjälp, Hopp och förtvivlan samt Kulturkrock och rollförväntningar. Det förekom i resultatet att föräldrarna hade ett svårthanterbart liv som berodde på barnets problematik. Många föräldrar hade svårighet att acceptera barnets diagnos, vilket gav upphov till blandade känslor som sorg, frustration, ångest, lidande men även välbefinnande. Barnets överaktivitet och impulsivitet hade en stor inverkan på föräldrarnas liv. Föräldrarna lärde sig olika tillvägagångssätt för att hantera barnets beteende. Resultatet visade också att föräldrarna upplevde en stor förändring av sitt sociala liv vilket innebar ett minskat kontaktnät för föräldrarna. Att ha barn med ADHD var påfrestande och föräldrarna upplevde sig jämt missförstådda och hjälplösa, men trots det accepterade de flesta föräldrar sin situation och gjorde det bästa av det.</p>