The purpose of this dissertation is to develop explanatory theory for the learning processes facilitated by art-based methods in management education (ABMs). Such theory is important because managerial educators increasingly use ABMs, and without a well-developed theory it may be difficult to realise these methods’ full potential. Current research on ABMs uses theories from other fields but generally sees ABMs as methods for making important information available for reflection, e.g. information about unconscious assumptions, aesthetic experience, or non-propositional or tacit knowledge. This shows that the field is grounded in a representationalist view of cognition. This view of cognition makes it difficult to explain certain themes in the research field, such as, the importance of staying with the senses without reflecting, aesthetic agency, and the process of making. I therefore asked: What insights can be gained from exploring ABMs, using theories grounded in the embodied view of cognition, in particular Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) (Lakoff & Johnson, 1999) and simulation theories (Barsalou, 2008). For the empirical work, I used an experimental design with 60 managers from Danish companies. All participants selected problems from their work they perceived as important, yet unsolvable. They were randomly divided into three groups: Two groups using different ABMs to address problems and a comparison group where no ABM was used. The experiment indicated that 1) creating new metaphors for a problem based on different sensory metaphors enabled the participants to import behaviour from contexts unrelated to the problematic situation, and 2) focusing on sensory experience enabled participants to remove judgments about self or others. Furthermore, the experiment indicated that learning outcomes reflected participants’ experience of the concrete learning intervention. These findings contribute to CMT by suggesting that it is possible to formulate relationships between changes in metaphors and specific learning outcomes. They contribute to ABM by suggesting that experiences that participants have during ABMs are later used as tools for structuring other experiences – not merely as data for reflection.

Due to poverty and a lack of stimulation, many children living in Low- and Middle income countries suffer from developmental delay and do not develop to their full potential. Yet, remarkable recovery is often possible given that early interventions are available. The aim of this systematic literature review was to find out what could be done to decrease the gap between the current development and the developmental potential among children aged 0-8 years, living in Low –and Middle income countries. The research questions were the following: What intervention programs are provided by communities in Low- and Middle income counties with the intention of training parents´ to support their children reaching their developmental potential? What are the impacts of the interventions on children’s development, and what are the impacts of the interventions on parents´ knowledge about children`s development? Twelve studies were identified through a database search. After analyzing the data two different types of intervention programs emerged: parenting programs and stimulation programs. The gap between children´s current developmental levels and their developmental potential was not measured in the studies.  However, the intervention programs show to have positive effects on informing parents regarding child development, as well as making positive impacts on children’s cognitive development and social skills. The interventions mainly focus on children under the age of three, while interventions focusing on older children are few and need to be further researched. Simple matters, such as home-made toys and interactive communication with the children, can make a big impact on children’s development, which prepares children for future education.

Supply Chain Risk Management (SCRM) is rapidly becoming a most sought after research area due to the influence of recent supply chain disruptions on global economy. The thesis begins with a systematic literature review of the developments within the broad domain of SCRM over the past decade. Thematic and descriptive analysis supported with modern knowledge management techniques brings forward seven distinctive research gaps for future research in SCRM. Overlapping research findings from an industry perspective, coupled with SCRM research gaps from the systematic literature review has helped to define the research problem for this study. The thesis focuses on a holistic and systematic approach to modelling risks within supply chain and logistics networks. The systems thinking approach followed conceptualises the phenomenon of risk propagation utilising several recent case studies, workshop findings and focus studies. Risk propagation is multidimensional and propagates beyond goods, finance and information resource. It cascades into technology, human resource and socio-ecological dimensions. Three risk propagation zones are identified that build the fundamentals for modelling risk behaviour in terms of cost and delay. The development of a structured framework for SCRM, a holistic supply chain risk model and a quantitative research design for risk assessment are the major contributions of this research. The developed risk assessment platform has the ability to capture the fracture points and cascading impact within a supply chain and logistics network. A reputed aerospace and defence organisation in UK was used to test the experimental modelling set up for its viability and for bridging the gap between theory and practice. The combined statistical and simulation modelling approach provides a new perspective to assessing the complex behavioural performance of risks during multiple interactions within network.

Data quality is an important issue which has been addressed and recognised in research communities such as data warehousing, data mining and information systems. It has been agreed that poor data quality will impact the quality of results of analyses and that it will therefore impact on decisions made on the basis of these results. Empirical software engineering has neglected the issue of data quality to some extent. This fact poses the question of how researchers in empirical software engineering can trust their results without addressing the quality of the analysed data. One widely accepted definition for data quality describes it as `fitness for purpose', and the issue of poor data quality can be addressed by either introducing preventative measures or by applying means to cope with data quality issues. The research presented in this thesis addresses the latter with the special focus on noise handling. Three noise handling techniques, which utilise decision trees, are proposed for application to software engineering data sets. Each technique represents a noise handling approach: robust filtering, where training and test sets are the same; predictive filtering, where training and test sets are different; and filtering and polish, where noisy instances are corrected. The techniques were first evaluated in two different investigations by applying them to a large real world software engineering data set. In the first investigation the techniques' ability to improve predictive accuracy in differing noise levels was tested. All three techniques improved predictive accuracy in comparison to the do-nothing approach. The filtering and polish was the most successful technique in improving predictive accuracy. The second investigation utilising the large real world software engineering data set tested the techniques' ability to identify instances with implausible values. These instances were flagged for the purpose of evaluation before applying the three techniques. Robust filtering and predictive filtering decreased the number of instances with implausible values, but substantially decreased the size of the data set too. The filtering and polish technique actually increased the number of implausible values, but it did not reduce the size of the data set. Since the data set contained historical software project data, it was not possible to know the real extent of noise detected. This led to the production of simulated software engineering data sets, which were modelled on the real data set used in the previous evaluations to ensure domain specific characteristics. These simulated versions of the data set were then injected with noise, such that the real extent of the noise was known. After the noise injection the three noise handling techniques were applied to allow evaluation. This procedure of simulating software engineering data sets combined the incorporation of domain specific characteristics of the real world with the control over the simulated data. This is seen as a special strength of this evaluation approach. The results of the evaluation of the simulation showed that none of the techniques performed well. Robust filtering and filtering and polish performed very poorly, and based on the results of this evaluation they would not be recommended for the task of noise reduction. The predictive filtering technique was the best performing technique in this evaluation, but it did not perform significantly well either. An exhaustive systematic literature review has been carried out investigating to what extent the empirical software engineering community has considered data quality. The findings showed that the issue of data quality has been largely neglected by the empirical software engineering community. The work in this thesis highlights an important gap in empirical software engineering. It provided clarification and distinctions of the terms noise and outliers. Noise and outliers are overlapping, but they are fundamentally different. Since noise and outliers are often treated the same in noise handling techniques, a clarification of the two terms was necessary. To investigate the capabilities of noise handling techniques a single investigation was deemed as insufficient. The reasons for this are that the distinction between noise and outliers is not trivial, and that the investigated noise cleaning techniques are derived from traditional noise handling techniques where noise and outliers are combined. Therefore three investigations were undertaken to assess the effectiveness of the three presented noise handling techniques. Each investigation should be seen as a part of a multi-pronged approach. This thesis also highlights possible shortcomings of current automated noise handling techniques. The poor performance of the three techniques led to the conclusion that noise handling should be integrated into a data cleaning process where the input of domain knowledge and the replicability of the data cleaning process are ensured.

Good language skills are essential to academic success. Immigrant and refugee children who enter school without previous knowledge of the societal language are more prone to failure and need of special support. The aim of this study is to describe bilingual educational program used in preschool and primary school and to examine their outcomes related to language development, both for the home language (L1) as well as the school language (L2). 17 studies were identified through a systematic literature review. Results showed a predominance of the transitional bilingual education (TBE) and two-way immersion (TWI) models in bilingual education. Language related outcomes confirmed the finding from previous literature that bilingual education doesn't inhibit L2 acquisition. Also, confirming previous literature, advantages of bilingual programs over monolingual ones are proven hard to confirm. However, several methodological issues addressed by the previous meta-analysis seem to generally persist in the most recent literature. The results of this study reiterate the need for more high- quality study in the field. Moreover, future research should also include experimentation with different languages. Finally, this argues the interest to further study and implement bilingual education programs to better accommodate the need of children with a migration background.

In the last few decades the focus of immigration flows has been predominantly toward member countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Immigration is a process full of challenges, and perceiving as being discriminated by host country natives is one of the biggest difficulties for the immigrants. This challenge is especially represented in immigrant adolescent population due to their higher sensitivity of perception of others. Thus, perceived discrimination characterized as being a significant negative consequence resulting internalizing mental health outcomes for immigrant adolescents. Therefore, the aim of this study is to conduct a systematic literature review in order to identify and discuss the findings of the existing studies that focus on the consequences of perceived discrimination on internalizing mental health outcomes for immigrant adolescents in OECD countries. The systematic review included 16 studies for data extraction. The results showed that perceived discrimination has significant negative consequences on internalizing mental health outcomes for immigrant adolescents in OEDC countries resulting in higher levels of: depression, anxiety, psycho-somatization, post-traumatic stress disorder, and obsession-compulsion symptoms. However, within this relationship, there are also moderating and mediating variables. Self-esteem, familism and cognitive appraisal of discriminatory events were characterized as mediators. Parental support, adherence to traditional family values, acculturation, transcultural identity, older age, higher socioeconomic status (SES), and ethnic identity were characterized as moderators. It is recommended that the negative consequences of perceived discrimination on internalizing mental health outcomes should be taken into consideration on societal levels and in mental health fields when planning interventions and therapies for immigrant adolescents. Additionally, further research in this field should be conducted in other OECD countries with different immigrant groups in order to increase the generalizability of the findings.

Introduction: An increasing number of children in need of special support are included in mainstream schools. The roles of teaching assistants have changed with the inclusion of these children. Social partic-ipation is an essential aspect of inclusion, possible to be achieved in schools. In the literature social participation in elementary schools is studied in terms of friendships and relationships, contacts and inter-actions, perception of pupil with special education needs and acceptance by classmates. The impact that teaching assistants have on social participation has been questioned due to low or no education or training to work with children in need of special support. The aim is to investigate the social participation dimen-sions and the impact that teaching assistants have on the social participation of children in need of special support in mainstream elementary schools.Method: A systematic literature review was performed exploring four databases.Results: Nine studies in total were found. Seven studies examined social participation dimensions of con-tact and interactions, four – perception of pupil with special education needs. Friendships and relationships and acceptance by classmates were examined in two studies. Six studies identified negative impact of teaching assistants on social participation of children in need of special support, and three showed positive and negative results. The impact is attributed to the roles of teaching assistants, and participation in class.Conclusion: All four dimensions of social participation were studied in the articles, but no studies explored all dimensions at once, therefore complete impact of teaching assistants cannot be entirely realized yet. Nevertheless, the negative trend of teaching assistants’ impact on the social participation of children in need of special support found in this systematic review implicates two possible approaches. The role of teaching assistants could be shifted and adapted to suit the abilities of teaching assistant. Education and training of teaching assistants are necessary to support social participation of children in need of special support.

Background: Participation in every life situation is a basic child’s right. Within health care, participation is achieved by effective patient-provider communication. Increased participation is shown to be beneficial for the well-being of the child. To achieve this, augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) could be implemented during the care.  Aim: To explore the use of communication aids with children in health care settings and to see what the outcomes are for a child’s functioning based on the ICF-CY.  Method: A systematic literature review was conducted. The databases MEDLINE, PubMed, CINAHL and Dentistry and Oral Sciences Source were searched and nine articles were included for review. Results: It was found that both typically developing children and children with a variety of disabilities have been studied, as well as a wide age range. Low-tech aids have been practised most often, particularly visual picture schedules. Five studies measured ‘Activity and participation’ outcomes and the results showed improvement of patient-provider communication and enhanced completion of a medical procedure. Six studies measured outcomes that could be identified as ‘Body functions’ and results showed a decrease in anxiety, stress or pain at some point of the medical procedure.  Conclusion: This systematic literature review shows that AAC is still an emerging concept within health care with children, but the first results suggest that it has benefits for different child populations and for different aspects of a child’s functioning. However, it is not clear what the outcomes are for participation in particular. The limited amount of studies on this topic could be due to several barriers to achieve participation and use of AAC. Future research should focus more on using specific measures for participation. Also, researchers need to explore ways to overcome the barriers to implement AAC. Finally, new technologies such as tablet devices could be studied. / Participatie in elke levenssituatie is een basisrecht van elk kind. In de gezondheidszorg betekent dit een optimale communicatie tussen de patiënt en de hulpverlener. Verhoogde participatie blijkt gunstig te zijn voor het welzijn van het kind. Augmentatieve en alternatieve communicatie (AAC) zou hiervoor gebruikt kunnen worden binnen de gezondheidszorg. Het doel van deze studie is om het gebruik van communicatiehulpmiddelen met kinderen binnen de gezondheidszorg te verkennen en om na te gaan wat de resultaten hiervan zijn voor het functioneren van het kind gebaseerd op de ICF-CY. Er werd een systematische literatuurstudie uitgevoerd. Vier databanken werden doorzocht en in totaal werden negen artikels inbegrepen.  De resultaten toonden aan dat zowel typisch ontwikkelende kinderen als kinderen met een verscheidenheid aan beperkingen binnen een groot leeftijdsbereik reeds onderzocht zijn. Lowtech communicatiehulpmiddelen werden het vaakst gebruikt in de studies, waarvan het vaakst visuele schema’s. Vijf studies meten resultaten die behoren tot ‘Activiteiten en Participatie’ en toonden een verbeterde patiënt-hulpverlener communicatie en een betere bekwaamheid tot het beëindigen van een medische procedure. Zes studies meten resultaten die behoren tot ‘Lichaamsfuncties’ en toonden aan dat de angst, stress of pijn verlaagden bij het gebruik van een communicatiehulpmiddel. Deze systematische literatuurstudie toont aan dat AAC nog steeds een groeiend concept is binnen de gezondheidszorg voor kinderen. De eerste resultaten tonen echter dat AAC voordelen heeft voor verscheidene populaties van kinderen alsook voor verscheidene aspecten van het functioneren van een kind. Desalniettemin is het onduidelijk wat de resultaten zijn voor de participatie van het kind. Het beperkt aantal studies kan verklaard worden door het bestaan van allerhande barrières om participatie te bereiken en/of om AAC te gebruiken binnen de gezondheidszorg. Toekomstig onderzoek zou meer moeten focussen op de effecten voor participatie. Ook dient er onderzocht te worden hoe de meervoudige barrières overwonnen kunnen worden en hoe nieuwe technologieën zoals tablet computers mogelijks ingezet kunnen worden als communicatiehulpmiddel.

The management control systems (MCS) concept has evolved significantly the past decades with extensive studies that explore not only the concept itself but as well its relation to diverse variables such as performance, innovativeness and organisational learning. Nonetheless, inaccuracy is still present according to some researchers. (Tessier & Otley, 2012; Ferreira & Otley, 2009) By means of a systematic review (Tranfield et al., 2003), an interpretive analysis that embodies academic literatures in the area is presented. As a result, this thesis provides a synthesis delineation of the interactive management control systems’ concept. For the purpose of the study, a systematic selection of published and non-published academic literatures was conducted. (Saunders et al.,2009). Simons (Levers of control. Boston, Mass.: Harvard Business School Press,1995) was used as a starting point in order to generate criteria for the subsequent identification of relevant sources and get a grounding understanding of the topic before taking the challenge in form of a literature review in order to establish a distinction of the concept. This paper differs from prior studies in the field because of its attempt to clarify the concept of interactive control systems in a systematic manner which will allow the reader to have a see-through approach on all the procedures undertaken for the study. 111 articles were retrieved and following screening and abstract analysis 17 studies (including Simons, 1995 and Bisbe et al., 2005) were selected for the discussion of this qualitative literature review. In contrast to the existing literatures in the MCS field, I conceptualise the findings in 2 categories order to distinct the concepts of interactive MCS from interactive use of MCS. The main contribution of the study is the finding that there is a difference between interactive control systems and interactive use of control systems. Interactive MCS as such has a functionalist view and are designed to deliver interactiveness regardless of the context or the actors. And interactive use of control systems concerns the enactment of any control systems in an interactive manner. Therefore, the context (innovative environment) and the actor are taken into account in order for the systems to deliver positive effects. In addition, Evidences show that the interactive MCS as such are progressive instruments and characterised by effective and regular discussion among the users. Which lead to positive effects on strategy, workplace and innovation. Interactive use of MCS on the other hand are desirable in a context of R&D where the actor have required knowledge to facility the enactment. Additionally, MCS field interpret the concept of ICS more as interactive use of MCS than as such as interactive control system. When it comes to the connection to innovation, findings are contradictory as there are both positive and negative effects on business variables such innovation.

Background: Patients with mental illness is commonly present in physical healthcare for either mental illness or both mental illness and physical illness. Earlier research shows that patients feel aggrieved and discriminated against by healthcare professionals in physical healthcare due to mental illness. Patient experience that they do not receive good care, increasing the suffering. Aim: The aim was to describe nurses' experiences of caring for patients with mental illness in physical healthcare. Method: Systematic literature review with a descriptive synthesis according to Evans (2002), where 14 qualitative research articles where analyzed with an inductive approach. Result: The nurses experienced patients with mental illness as a danger and as not being their responsibility. They could not meet the patients' needs and experienced a lack of knowledge to care for them. They were sceptical about these patients and described negative attitudes and prejudices against them, and that the physical healthcare environment was not suitable for those patients. Conclusion: Nurses need skills in psychiatric nursing and a broader introduction into the basic psychiatric care. These skills are necessary to provide quality care that protects patients’ privacy and dignity and reduces the stigma of patients with mental illness.