Students with disabilities (SWD) at an urban high school in Midwestern United States experienced academic, social, and emotional problems. When SWD experience difficulties in high school, they may drop out and face potentially life-long problems. The purpose of this case study was to understand how a Response to Intervention (RTI) tutoring program addressed the academic, social, and emotional needs of students using the RTI model as a conceptual framework. The research questions addressed intervention specialists' perceptions of how use of the RTI model helped them meet SWD needs and what tutoring documents revealed about tutoring practices. Data sources consisted of interviews with 7 purposely selected intervention specialists who worked as special education teachers at the research site for at least 2 years, lesson plans provided by participants, and reviews of 20 student work samples including pre and post assessments. The data were analyzed by coding for emerging ideas related to interventions within the RTI framework and academic and social/emotional issues. The findings revealed that intervention specialists perceived the overarching academic difficulty for SWD was reading deficits, the out-of-class tutoring program was beneficial for SWD academically by using one-on-one and small-group instruction to scaffold success, and RTI was successful socially/emotionally by guiding students to use appropriate classroom behaviors. The results of the documentary data was that the created lessons were academically appropriate for the SWD they taught in the tutoring center. This study can contribute to positive social change by providing guidance to intervention specialists for increasing SWD social and academic success.

A quantitative survey was conducted in two Canberra hospitals that aimed at ascertaining the impact of information provided by medical libraries on clinical decision making. Specifically, this research study investigated clinical, cognitive and quality value of information provided by the medical librarians to the management of patients and doctors' ability to handle clinical cases differently as a result of such information. Furthermore, the relative value of information received from the library was assessed by comparing it to the value of information received from other sources in dealing with clinical problems. The research involved medical specialists and registrars affiliated with these hospitals. Doctors were asked to select any clinical situation which they frequently or currently encounter and for which further information would be useful to them. Once their information requests were identified, they were then asked to present such requests to the hospital library. In order to avoid any special treatment, participants were urged not to identify themselves to the library staff as partaking in the study. It was important that participants did not search for the information themselves. The doctors were asked to evaluate the material provided by the library in relation to clinical care and, thereafter, complete a short questionnaire. This research took place between October 1994 and March 1995. The questionnaires were sent to 288 doctors. This represented the total population of specialists and registrars affiliated with both hospitals at the time of the study. Analysis of the results is based on a 34% useable response rate. Medical specialists were by far the higher number of respondents (70%) as compared with registrars (30%). Eighty-one per cent of the doctors said that the information provided by the library refreshed their memory and 82% said that it would contribute to better quality of medical care. Eighty-six per cent indicated that some of this information was new to them and 99% said that the information provided was up to date. Ninety-four per cent said that the information provided by the library was of clinical value to them. As the result of the information provided by the library 75% of respondents would either definitely or probably handle some aspects of the clinical situation differently than they would have done it otherwise. The level of importance of the change for the optimal care of patients was assessed with 54% regarding it as important, 42% as moderately important. Specifically, as the result of the information provided, the doctors were able to change the following: diagnosis 10%, choice of lab tests 20%, choice of other diagnostic investigations 24%, choice of drugs 27%, choice of other management 58%, reduce length of hospitalisation 10%, post-operative care of patients 25%, advice given to patients 47%. On the basis of the received information the doctors were able to avoid the following: hospitalisation of patients 11%, risk of hospital acquired infection 8%, surgical intervention 19%, tests or other investigation 23%, additional out-patient visits 12%. Discussions with colleagues were reported to be most valued sources of information for the purpose of clinical decisions (59%), followed by diagnostic imaging (49%), librarian (45%), lab tests (42%) and patients' medical records (30%). The librarian's role as contributing to the process of clinical decisions was rated highly with 88% ranking it as either important or moderately important. The results of significance p test statistic performed at 0.05 significance level suggested that, for this study, there was a significant relationship between the frequency of library use and doctors' ability to change the choice of laboratory tests, diagnostic investigations, and the choice of prescribed drugs. The results of this research study demonstrate that medical librarians can positively contribute to clinical management of patients by providing timely and accurate information. Further research is recommended in order to determine the impact of the whole range of library services on health care outcomes.

I denna avhandling presenteras resultaten från en empirisk undersökning med syfte att granska effekterna av decentralisering. Hur påverkas organisationen – "bakom fasaden av ord"? Vilka positiva och negativa effekter kan urskiljas? Boken innehåller också en genomgång av tidigare teorier om decentralisering. I undersökningsresultaten kan ett flertal faktorer urskiljas, med möjliga effekter för arbetsliv och konkurrenskraft. Decentralisering påverkar inte bara de formella strukturerna utan också den grundläggande organisationslogiken. Den lokala affärsverksamheten prioriteras vad gäller utveckling, resursuppbyggnad och handlingsutrymme, ofta på bekostnad av mellanchefs- och stabsnivåer. Breddade ansvarsområden prioriteras och specialiseringen i arbetet minskar. En ny syn på kunskapsutveckling kan skönjas, mer marknadsbaserad och verksamhetsnära. Flexibilitet prioriteras framför stordrift – eller handlar det om att vinna "småskalefördelar"? Decentraliseringen ger också upphov till förändrade kunskapsmönster och yrkesroller genom hela organisationen. Arbetet förändras, inte bara för personalen utan kanske framför allt för chefer och specialister. Decentralisering ställer också nya krav på ledarskapet. Hur leder man en organisation som egentligen klarar sig själv? / <p>Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan, 1992</p>

Programmes and policies to support ecological sustainable development and the practice of implementation is a question of innovation rather than known and taken for granted procedure. This thesis argues a priori models concerning stability in the social sciences, and human geography especially, are less able to help us understand this practice and planning in such unstable situations. Problematic in common understandings of planning and policy implementation concerning sustainability are the dualisms between physical-social spaces and between rationality-contingency. The first dualism makes it hard to grasp the interaction between humans and nonhumans. The second dualism concerns the problem of how to capture change without resorting to reductionism and explanaining the evolving projects as either technically, economically, or culturally rational. The scope of the thesis is to test resources from actor-network theory as a means of resolving these dualisms. The case is the Stockholm Local Investment Programme and the new district of Hammarby Sjöstad. The programme’s objective was to support the implemention of new technologies and systems, energy efficiency and reduced resource-use as well as eco-cycling measures. The case-study follows how the work with the programme unfolded and how administrators’ efforts to reach satisfactory results was approached. In doing this, the actors had to be far more creative than models of implementation and traditional technology diffusion seem to suggest. The recommendation is to take the instrumentalisation framing the plasticity of a project in planning seriously – as innovativeness is not a special but the general case. Hence, to broaden our tools and understanding of planning a human geography of planning projects is pertinent.

Library media specialists (LMSs) have a unique position within a school, which is the opportunity to reach out to every student, especially to gifted and talented students who can benefit from having more advocates within their learning communities. Collaborating with other education professionals is beneficial to all students and many library media specialists already make this a normal part of their job responsibilities. The LMSs who are participants of Project CATALYST (Collaboration among Teachers and Librarians Yields Successful Teaching) are required to collaborate with classroom teachers in order to provide more enriching opportunities for students when they come to the library media center. So, the purpose of this project was to introduce gifted and talented terminology and strategies that focus on differentiated instruction for gifted and talented students to LMSs participating in Project CATALYST grant through the Ohio Valley Educational Cooperative (OVEC). This will meet two specific needs: providing the LMSs opportunities to collaborate with classroom teachers while becoming another resource for gifted and talented students that can enhance their learning beyond the classroom. The LMSs who participate in Project CATALYST were introduced to specific gifted and talented terminology and strategies that focus on differentiated instruction for gifted and talented students through a three-hour professional development. The participants completed an online pre-survey that identified the specific needs of the group and the professional development was designed with these needs in mind. After participating in the professional development, the participants were asked to complete an online post-survey to determine if the professional development was effective in changing the awareness and instructional practices of the participants when working with gifted and talented students. The pre- and post-surveys were analyzed to validate the effectiveness of the project and found that there was positive response by library media specialists to professional development on using differentiated instruction with gifted and talented students in the library media center. The small changes in instructional practices by 70 percent of the participants validate the effectiveness of the project in enlightening educators in the needs of gifted and talented students and the need to collaborate with other educators to provide enriching and challenging learning activities for these unique students.

Taiwan Security Market is a typical order-driven market, and the business transactions are matched through the electronic trading system since 1988. In this work, we study the joint distributions of tick size changes of bid price and ask price, bid volume, and ask volume¡@for each matching order in Taiwan Stock Exchange (TSEC). Exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA) method is adopted to update the joint distribution of the incoming order variables aforementioned. Here we propose five methods to determine the update timing and consider three different initial matrices of the joint distributions. In empirical study, the daily matching data of two enterprises Uni-president Enterprises Corporation and Formosa Plastics Corporation in April, 2005 are considered. The goodness of fit for the joint distributions are determined by Chi-square Goodness of Fit Test. The results show that EWMA method provide good fit for most of the daily transaction data.

Research have revealed that the accounting profession engage multi-disciplinary teams in the assurance of sustainability reports. However, how such teams are composed or the values that these teams bring to the assurance engagement process, and how reliance is established on the work performed by such teams has been left uncovered. This research sought to fill this gap, and hence, contributed to providing an understanding surrounding this issue. Semi-structured interviews with auditors from the Big Four Audit firms, engaged with performing sustainability assurance was conducted. The findings revealed that the engagement of multi-disciplinary teams, comprising both financial accountants and sustainability specialists from various disciplines, was necessary in ensuring quality assurance work performance. Firstly, the in-depth knowledge of sustainability subject matters possessed by the sustainability experts, enabled the questioning of the correctness of sustainability items reported by the clients. Secondly, sustainability experts were valuable in the planning stage of the engagement, in identifying client risk areas. Thirdly, sustainability expert involvement, enabled the winning of work contracts. Additionally, the engagement of multi-disciplinary teams was revealed to be valuable to the client firms. Firstly, the sustainability experts assisted clients in identifying the most valuable issues to report to their stakeholders. Secondly, due to the expert’s knowledge and experience, it enabled them to inform clients on high reporting levels. Finally, sustainability experts provided clients with valuable feedback that aids the improvement of the client processes, and the management of risks. The establishment of reliance on the work performed by the teams, requiring an accountant to signoff every engagement work performed by the team, as required by the applicable assurance standards, was partially supported by this study. Sustainability experts, who were non-accountants, was revealed to be engaged in this signing off ritual, hence, leaving room for the questioning of such assurance engagements signed off by sustainability experts.

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Social Work and Social Administration / Master / Master of Philosophy

Aim of the study. To estimate the requirement for public health (PH) specialists and to evaluate their withdrawal during the studies. Objectives. 1. To evaluate the changes in number and distribution of PH specialists in Lithuania in 1993-2002. 2. To evaluate the withdrawal of students of Faculty of PH of KUM during pre-diploma studies. 3. To evaluate the withdrawal of students of Faculty of PH of KUM during post-diploma studies. 4. To estimate the requirement for PH specialists until 2015. Methods. While estimating the number and distribution of PH specialists in Lithuania the data of LHIC were analyzed. While estimating the withdrawal of PH students during pre-diploma and post-diploma studies, cohort analysis of the matriculates of Faculty of PH of KUM was carried out. The requirement for PH specialists was evaluated by carrying out the Delphi survey. Results. In 1993-2002 the number of PH specialists per 10 thousand population decreased in Lithuania: mostly the number of PH specialists with non-university medical education. In 1994-2000 84.9 percent of 272 matriculates graduated from Faculty of PH of KUM. 2.5 percent of students graduated earlier than after 4 years, because they had moved from Faculty of Medicine to the third or the fourth course of PH studies. The number of students who left for other faculties was 2.9 percent. It was impossible to find out the outcome of studies of 1.5 percent of students. Totally, 10.7 percent of students have not graduated from the... [to full text]

Mokykloje susikerta visuomenės ir asmens sveikatos priežiūros sferoms priskiriamos veiklos sritys. Neaišku, ar dabartinis mokyklos visuomenės sveikatos priežiūros specialistas yra pasirengęs įgyvendinti šiuos uždavinius. Neįvertinta, kokią nuomonę apie šią sistemą turi mokinių tėvai. Darbo tikslas: įvertinti mokyklų sveikatos priežiūros darbuotojų bei mokinių tėvų požiūrį į mokinių sveikatos priežiūros reformą mokyklose. Darbo uždaviniai: 1. Įvertinti mokyklų sveikatos priežiūros darbuotojų požiūrį į vykstančią mokinių sveikatos priežiūros reformą mokyklose. 2. Palyginti Šiaulių miesto ir rajono sveikatos priežiūros specialistų požiūrį į vykstančią mokinių sveikatos priežiūros reformą mokyklose. 3. Įvertinti mokinių tėvų požiūrį į vykstančią mokinių sveikatos priežiūros reformą mokyklose. Metodika: 2006 m. atlikta Šiaulių miesto ir rajono mokyklų sveikatos priežiūros specialisčių anoniminė anketinė apklausa. Apklaustos 56 Šiaulių miesto ir rajono mokyklose dirbančios sveikatos priežiūros specialistės. Vertinant mokinių tėvų požiūrį į mokinių sveikatos priežiūros reformą atlikta trijų Šiaulių miesto vidurinių mokyklų 4, 8, 11 klasių mokinių tėvų anoniminė anketinė apklausa. Anketų grįžtamumas buvo 81,7 proc. (343 iš 420 anketų). Respondentų anketiniai duomenys buvo analizuojami naudojant kompiuterinį SPSS 10.03 versijos statistinį paketą. Rezultatai: Beveik pusė (41,1 proc.) mokyklų sveikatos priežiūros specialisčių mokinių sveikatos priežiūros reformai mokyklose pritarė, 2... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / School is the place where responsibilities of individual and public health care activities overlap. It is not clear, however, if public health specialists at schools are ready to take all required responsibilities. The opinion of student parents about this system has not been evaluated either. Goal: to evaluate the attitude of school health care providers and student parents towards health care reform at schools. Tasks: 1. To evaluate the attitude of school health care providers towards the ongoing health care reform at schools. 2. To compare the attitudes of school health care specialists in the city and district of Siauliai towards the ongoing student health care reform at schools. 3. To evaluate the attitude of student parents towards the ongoing student health care reform at schools. Methods: an anonymous survey of school health care specialists was carried out in the city of Siauliai and its’ district in the year 2006. 56 health care specialists working at Siauliai city and district schools were questioned. For evaluation of parents’ attitude towards health care reform, parents of 4th, 8th and 11th year students were anonymously questioned at three secondary schools in the city of Siauliai. The response rate among parents was 81.7% (343 out of 420 ). Version 10.03 of SPSS statistical software package was used to analyze the collected survey data. Results: nearly a half (41.1%) of school health care specialists agreed with the reform, 21.4% opposed it against, 37... [to full text]