Social science researchers are increasingly using multi-group confirmatory factor analysis (MG-CFA) to compare different groups' latent variable means. To ensure that a MG-CFA model is identified, two approaches are commonly used to set the scale of the latent variable. The reference indicator (RI) strategy, which involves constraining one loading per factor to a value of one across groups, assumes that the RI has equal factor loadings across groups. The second approach involves constraining each factor's variance to a value of one across groups and, thus, assumes that the factor variances are equal across groups. Latent mean differences may be tested and described using Gonzalez and Griffin's (2001) likelihood ratio test (LRT[subscript k]) and Hancock's (2001) standardized latent mean difference effect size measure ([delta subscript k]), respectively. Applied researchers using the LRT[subscript k] and/or the [delta subscript k] when comparing groups' latent means may not explicitly test the assumptions underlying the two factor scaling methods. To date, no study has examined the impact of violating the assumptions associated with the two scaling methods on latent mean comparisons. The purpose of this study was to assess the performance of the LRT[subscript k] and the [delta subscript k] when violating the assumptions underlying the RI strategy and/or the factor variance scaling method. Type I error and power of the LRT[subscript k] as well as relative parameter bias and parameter bias of the [delta subscript k] were examined when varying loading difference magnitude, factor variance ratio, factor loading pattern and sample size ratio. Rejection rates of model fit indices, including the x² test, RMSEA, CFI, TLI and SRMR, under these varied conditions were also examined. The results indicated that violating the assumptions underlying the RI strategy did not affect the LRT[subscript k] or the [delta subscript k]. However, violating the assumption underlying the factorvariance scaling method influenced Type I error rates of the LRT[subscript k], particularly in unequal sample size conditions. Results also indicated that the four factors manipulated in this study had an impact on correct model rejection rates of the model fit indices. It is hoped that this study provides useful information to researchers concerning the use of the LRT[subscript k] and [delta subscript k] under factor scaling method assumption violations. / text

This thesis investigates how teachers navigate Common Core State Standards, high-stakes testing, and teacher evaluation while creating their own curriculum to meet the needs of culturally and linguistically diverse students. As a former teacher, I conducted a practitioner research case study of four successful colleagues in a bilingual Pre-K-8 school in Washington, DC. When given flexibility in curriculum, teachers integrated knowledge from their relationships with students to foster a caring environment that supports learning and created their own systems of accountability by deciding what data matters. Teachers centered student engagement as what drives their curriculum and used a variety of differentiation methods based on their own “toolbox” of instructional strategies. Findings suggest a flexible curriculum model allows teachers to be curriculum makers who actively go beyond the standards to integrate knowledge from their practice and relationships with students to create curriculum that successfully supports language learners.

This thesis investigates how teachers navigate Common Core State Standards, high-stakes testing, and teacher evaluation while creating their own curriculum to meet the needs of culturally and linguistically diverse students. As a former teacher, I conducted a practitioner research case study of four successful colleagues in a bilingual Pre-K-8 school in Washington, DC. When given flexibility in curriculum, teachers integrated knowledge from their relationships with students to foster a caring environment that supports learning and created their own systems of accountability by deciding what data matters. Teachers centered student engagement as what drives their curriculum and used a variety of differentiation methods based on their own “toolbox” of instructional strategies. Findings suggest a flexible curriculum model allows teachers to be curriculum makers who actively go beyond the standards to integrate knowledge from their practice and relationships with students to create curriculum that successfully supports language learners.

Des troubles moteurs ont été décrits dans les Troubles du Spectre Autistiques (TSA), toutefois tous les enfants atteints de TSA ne montrent pas de diminution des performances motrices. La nature et l'origine des perturbations motrices dans les TSA ne sont pas claires. Les processus neuro-développementaux, en lien avec la maturation du système nerveux central, sont peu explorés dans les TSA, or ces processus sous-tendent les performances motrices. Peu d'études portent sur l'analyse fine de la sémiologie des fonctions neuro-psychomotrices dans les TSA et l'existence d'une trajectoire neuro-développementale de ces fonctions n'est pas connue chez les enfants avec TSA. L'objectif de cette étude est de mettre en évidence la sémiologie des troubles psychomoteurs auprès d'enfants avec TSA, à l'aide d'une batterie standardisée Française d'évaluation développementale des fonctions neuro-psychomotrices de l'enfant (NP-MOT) (Vaivre-Douret, 2006). L'évaluation neuro-psychomotrice complète les évaluations de premières instances (psychiatrique; psychologique; compréhension; psychomotrice). L'identification d'un profil clinique neuro-psychomoteur, l'identification de troubles ou décalages par rapport à une norme de référence, la mise en évidence de fonctions cérébrales éventuellement touchées dans les TSA devraient permettre de mieux comprendre l'origine et la nature des troubles observés dans les TSA. Les résultats de plus en plus nombreux concernant la motricité chez ces enfants doivent pouvoir également être analysés au regard des évaluations cognitives et neuro-cognitives, afin d'affiner le profil de développement et permettre ainsi de mieux comprendre la nature des troubles autistiques parmi une comorbidité d'éventuels autres dysfonctionnements. / Motor disorders have been described in the Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD), however all children with ASD show no decrease in motor performances. The nature and origin of motor disturbances in ASD are unclear. Neurodevelopmental processes linked to the maturation of the central nervous system, are not really explored in ASD, but these processes underlie motor performances. Few studies trat of an acute semiology of motor abnormalities in ASD and the existence of a neuro-developmental trajectory of neuro-psychomotor functions is not known in children with ASD. The aim of this study is to highlight the semiology of psychomotor disorders among children with ASD, using a French standardized neurodevelopmental assessment tool (NP-MOT) (Vaivre-Douret, 2006). Evaluations of the first instances (psychiatric; psychological; understanding; psychomotor) were supplemented by a standardized assessment battery of neuro-developmental psychomotor functions (NP-MOT). The identification of a neuro-psychomotor clinical profile, identification of problems or discrepancies compared to a standard reference, the identification of potentially affected brain functions in ASD should provide a better understanding of the origin and nature the observed disorders in ASD. The results, more and more numerous concerning motor skills in these children, should be able to be analyzed in light of cognitive or neuro-cognitive assessments and should allow to refine the profile of development and thereby enable a better understanding of the nature of autism among a comorbidity other possible malfunctions.

Successful organizations are constantly working to improve and enhance their operations. There are multiple approaches that can create efficiency, however there are difficulties in identifying factors that are important to the company. The purpose of the case study is to analyze and enhance order handling for inventory items based on article priorities. In order to answer the purpose of the case study, data has primarily been collected through literature studies, interviews, and observations. Further more, statistics and documents has been provided by BillerudKorsnäs. Three interviews have been completed on different occasions with employees who works daily with order handling. Observations has taken place continuously to receive insight of the operations and current working methods. The theory chapter underlying the case study has been collected through research articles, course literature, and websites. The purchasing process from demand to delivery has been studied in the current status description. Multiple manual elements, challenges with the design of the business system, and difficulties maintaining correct information in the article registry are some aspects that were identified in the purchasing process. In conclusion, inventory items that are bound to purchase reservations, should have a higher degree of priority in order handling. Further more, factors as manual handling, standardized approaches, increased automation, and correct information in the business system, are of importance to achieve enhanced order handling. Methods that / Framgångsrika organisationer arbetar ständigt för att förbättra och effektivisera sin verksamhet. Det finns flertalet tillvägagångssätt som kan skapa effektivisering, dock finns svårigheter att urskilja vilka faktorer som är väsentliga för verksamheten. Syftet med studien är att analysera och effektivisera orderhantering för förrådsartiklar med utgångspunkt från olika artiklars prioriteringar. För att besvara studiens syfte har datainsamling skett genom litteraturstudier, intervjuer och observationer. Vidare har även statistik och dokument tillhandahållits av fallföretaget BillerudKorsnäs. I studien har tre intervjuer genomförts vid olika tillfällen med personal som dagligen arbetar med orderhantering. Det har även skett löpande observationer för att skapa en god bild av verksamheten och nuvarande arbetssätt. Den teori som ligger till grund för studien har samlats in genom vetenskapliga artiklar, kurslitteratur och webbsidor. I nulägesbeskrivningen har inköpsprocessen studerats från behov till inleverans. Det som framkommit är att inköpsprocessen har flertalet manuella moment, utmaningar med affärssystemets utformning samt svårighet med att upprätthålla rätt information i artikelregistret. I studiens slutsats går det att utläsa att förrådsartiklar som är bundna till inköpsreservationer bör ha en högre prioritet vid orderhantering. Vidare framkom i studien att faktorer som manuell hantering, standardiserade arbetssätt, ökad automatisering och korrekt information i affärssystemet är av betydelse för att uppnå en effektivare orderhantering. Det identifierades även metoder som kan tillämpas för att prioritera artiklar som exempelvis ABC-klassificering och Kraljic matris.

Les environnements confinés, tels que les blocs chirurgicaux ou les salles blanches, hébergent des processus complexes auxquels sont associés de nombreux risques. Leur conception, leur réalisation et leur exploitation sont complexes, de par les très nombreuses normes les encadrant.La qualification de ces « environnements normés », afin d’en garantir la qualité de conception, requiert une expertise fine du métier et souffre du manque d’outil en permettant l’automatisation. Partant de ce constat, nous proposons une approche unifiée visant à faciliter la qualification des environnements normés. Celle-ci s’appuie sur une représentation du contexte normatif sous la forme d’un graphe unique, ainsi que sur une modélisation de l’environnement et son objet final par étapes successives permettant une vérification incrémentale de même que la production d’informations nécessaires à la traçabilité lors de l’exploitation. Cette démarche, illustrée au travers du domaine des environnements confinés médicaux, est générique et peut s’appliquer à l’ensemble des environnements normés. / Industrial clean rooms or operating rooms are critical places often hosting dangerous or complex processes. Their design, building and use are thus difficult and constrained by a large amount of standards and rules. Qualifying these environments, in order to ensure their quality, consequently requires a high level of expertise and lacks assisting tools.This leads us to propose a unified approach aiming at easing the qualification process of standardized environments. It relies on a graph-based representation of the set of standards and rules that apply to a specific case, as well as on step-by-step modelling of the whole target environment. The verification process is then eased as it becomes incremental. During each stage, relevant information can also be gathered in order to ensure environment traceability during its use.This approach, applied to medical environments for validation purposes, remains generic and can be applied to any kind of standardized environment.

Creating standardized infrastructures for new technologies has become a frequent event in recent years, forcing competing firms to together collaborate in order to develop and mutually agree on a common standard. This is due to technologies such as blockchain (distributed ledger) technology that need interoperability to reach its full potential, making the collaboration aspect crucial for organizations that want to adapt to the technology. Therefore, this study’s purpose is to identify and analyze the challenges of creating such a standardized infrastructure. A case study was used to analyze these challenges, which involved experts of blockchain technology and three Nordic banks connected to the blockchain consortium R3. First, a pre-study took place with the help of blockchain experts, who helped identify potential problems regarding blockchain (distributed ledger) technology. Secondly, a main study was conducted consisting of four interviews with key persons representing the banks, in addition to collecting secondary data via news articles, and press releases. With the help of co-opetition theory and a technical description of blockchain (distributed ledger) technology, an analytical model was developed to support the analysis of the data collection. The analysis focus on aspects of co-opetition drivers, co-opetition capabilities, co-opetition dynamics and blockchain aspects, which were used to showcase the challenges of collaborating on creating a standardized infrastructure. The result of this study highlights the importance of learning and educational aspects, the size of a cooperation and threats from other competing solutions, which generates challenges. In addition to the identified challenges, this study has also contributed to an understanding of how these aspects can come to affect a collaboration.

Contexte : Le virus Torque Teno (TTV) est un petit virus à ADN fortement prévalent dont la réplication est étroitement liée à l'état immunitaire. Un nombre croissant de publications soulignent le potentiel de la charge virale du TTV en tant qu'indicateur d'immunosuppression chez les patients transplantés. Des tests cliniques sont nécessaires pour caractériser davantage son potentiel en tant que marqueur d'immunosuppression.Objectifs : Présentation de la faisabilité/optimisation et démonstration des performances analytiques et cliniques du premier test standardisé utilisé pour détecter et quantifier l'ADN du TTV humain dans le sang total et le plasma de diverses populations. La charge virale du TTV a été analysée sur des échantillons de sang total prélevés chez 31 volontaires sains, chez 53 donneurs de reins décédés et cours du suivi de 42 receveurs d’une greffe de rein.Résultats : La limite de détection de la trousse développée était de 2,2 log10 copies/ml dans le sang total et le plasma, la linéarité et la précision ont été démontrées entre 1,61 et 10,61 log10 copies/ml dans le sang total. La prévalence de l'ADN du TTV dans le sang variait significativement entre les groupes : 45% chez les volontaires sains, 74% chez les donneurs et 83% chez les receveurs de rein. Chez les receveurs de rein, les cinétiques TTV précoces étaient comparables à celles précédemment présentées dans la littérature (dans d'autres contextes de transplantation) : la charge virale est passée d'une moyenne de 4,3 log10 à 7,9 log10 copies/mL dans les 75 premiers jours post transplantation. L’analyse des séquences de TTV par séquençage haut débit nous a permis de décrire la prévalence des génotypes de TTV chez 20 donneur et receveurs appariés.Conclusion : Ce test TTV a montré une sensibilité analytique, une spécificité, une linéarité et une précision élevée. Avec ce test, la cinétique précoce chez les receveurs de rein est proche de celle précédemment décrite chez les receveurs de greffe de poumon. C'est un outil standardisé utile pour évaluer davantage la charge de TTV en tant que biomarqueur de l'état immunitaire qui pourrait améliorer la stratégie de traitement individuel. / Background: Torque teno viruses (TTV) are small DNA viruses with high prevalence whose replication is closely linked to immune status. A growing number of publications underlined the potential of TTV viral load as an indicator of immunosuppression. Clinical assays are necessary to further characterize their potential as immunosuppression markers.Objectives: To demonstrate the performance of the first standardized Research Use Only assay to detect and quantify human TTV DNA in whole blood and plasma.Study design: We established analytical and clinical performances for TTV load measurement in various populations. The TTV kinetics were followed in kidney recipients. TTV viral load was analyzed on whole blood samples from 31 healthy volunteers, 53 kidney deceased donors and 42 kidney recipients follow-up.Results: Limit of detection was 2.2 log copies/mL in whole blood and plasma, linearity and precision were demonstrated over the range 1.61 to 10.61 log10 copies/mL in whole blood. Prevalence of TTV DNA in blood differed significantly among groups: 45% in healthy volunteers, 74% in donors and 86% in kidney recipients. In kidney recipients, early TTV kinetics were comparable to those previously observed with in-house assays in other transplant settings: viral load increased from an average of 4.3 log10 to 7.9 log10 copies/mL within the first 75 days post transplantation. Sequence analysis of TTV by high throughput sequencing allowed us to describe the prevalence of TTV genotypes in 20 matched donors and recipients.Conclusion: This TTV assay showed high analytical sensitivity, specificity, linearity and precision. With this assay, early kinetics in kidney recipients are close to that previously described in lung transplant recipients. It is a useful standardized tool to further evaluate TTV load as a biomarker of immune status that could improve individual treatment strategy.

Purpose – The purpose of the study is to propose a framework for standardized workstations with focus on operators work activities and material presentation on a mixed-model assembly line. In order to fulfill the purpose, it was decomposed into three research questions: Research question 1: What problems in existing manual workstations can be identified, regarding work activities and material presentation? Research question 2: What can be considered regarding operators' work activities in creation of standardized workstations for a mixed-model assembly line? Research question 3: What can facilitate the work performance and ergonomics of operators when designing material presentation for standardized workstations for a mixed-model assembly line? Methodology – This study was carried out inductively through analysis of empirical data from a case study against existing theories from a literature study. Theories were in the areas of mixed-model assembly line, workstation design, material presentation, work activities, ergonomics and human aspect, and standardization and flexibility. To gather empirical data, a document study, observations and interviews were conducted at one case company. Findings – The study resulted in a framework for work activities and material presentation in standardized workstations on a mixed-model assembly line within the perspectives of ergonomics, standardization and non-value-added work. Results indicated on decreased efficiency if the involvement of human factor and standardization were insufficient in the workstation design, by increased non-value- added work and decreased ergonomics. Implications – The proposed framework intended to support companies to merge assembly lines into a mixed-model assembly line with low automation. Limitations – The framework in this study only focused on workstations' workactivities and material presentation. Workstations are linked to more than these two areas therefore should more areas be included in merging assembly lines. This framework had the perspectives of ergonomics, standardization and non-value-added work, more perspectives should be considered in a merger.

The master's thesis focuses on individuation and differentiation in our education system. The present work explains the concepts of individualization and differentiation, various types of differentiation, their possible pitfalls, their history and the applications of differentiation and individuation in alternative schools. The thesis includes a conversation with a physics teacher, analysis of annual elementary school reports, and an experiment. The experiment included a non-standardized achievement test and a survey.