This paper uses regression analysis on a national data set from the United States from 2001-2016 to analyze racial or ethnic group disparities in home ownership between whites and blacks, Asian and Pacific Islanders, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, Mexicans, other Hispanics and American Indians. I employ Integrated Public Use Microdata combined with Bureau of Labor Statistics data and Federal Reserve Economic Data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Controlling for demographic, educational, income and wealth, employment and housing characteristics, I find no significant differences between whites and Asian and Pacific Islanders, Mexicans and American Indians. However, blacks, Puerto Ricans, Cubans and other Hispanics face racial disadvantages in regard to home ownership. All minority racial or ethnic groups, except American Indians, lost home ownership parity to whites from 2007-2011, the years primarily affected by the economic crisis.

This thesis discusses rhetorical features of Indonesian research articles (RAs) in three disciplinary areas: Economics, Education and Psychology. These were written by Indonesian speakers and published mainly in university-based scientific journals. The main focus of this thesis is on the examination of the patterns of communicative purposes or ‘Moves’ and their subsequent elements or ‘Steps’ of the introduction sections of these articles. The analyses include the examination of communicative purposes and persuasive values of the texts, linguistic resources used to materialise the communicative purposes and persuasions, and the cultural factors (ie. norms, beliefs and values) and scientific practices and academic writing conventions underlying the specific rhetorical features. ¶ This study found that the macro rhetorical structure of the Indonesian RAs (ie. the Introduction, Methods, Results and Discussion or IMRD pattern) is relatively similar to that of the English RAs except that, unlike in English RAs, the conclusion and suggestion section in the Indonesian RAs have a separate section. However, the communicative purposes and persuasions in the introduction sections in the two groups of the RAs (English and Indonesian) are relatively different. Differences are also found in the way that rhetorical works use the linguistic resources to materialise the communicative purposes and persuasions in the introduction sections of the two groups of RAs. Some of the rhetorical differences are because of the differences in the research practices and scientific writing conventions in Indonesian and in English speaking countries, while others are because of cultural differences reflected in the two languages. ¶ The pedagogical implication of this study is that the Indonesian RA genre needs to be explicitly taught to Indonesian students, particularly university students in order to give them more access to the content of Indonesian research, and to develop skills needed by Indonesian researchers and research writers. For this purpose, an appropriate approach needs to be developed; that is to teach the generic features of Indonesian RAs such as those in social sciences written in Bahasa Indonesia or Indonesian.

<p>Kommunerna i Stockholms läns nordöstra del har börjat med ett projekt för att fler flyktingar snabbare skall nå en högre självförsörjningsgrad och delaktighet i samhället. Syftet var att undersöka hur nordostkommunerna analyserar och bedömer nyanlända flyktingars kompetens samt söka finna ut hur de kan förbättra sina verktyg för analys och bedömning. Kvalitativ metod har använts och sju intervjuer har genomförts. Av resultatet framkom att nordostkommunerna arbetar med kompetenskartläggning informellt och med yrkesbedömning genom tre månader praktik på arbetsplats. Men de saknar instrument och verktyg som kan vara ett stöd att nå projektets ändamål. Utifrån den lästa litteraturen och en kompletterande intervju med en annan kommun inom Stockholms län, redovisas flera modeller och verktyg som kan användas för kompetensanalys. Min förhoppning är att undersökningens faktaunderlag kan bli ett underlag för utvecklingsarbete i kommunerna.</p> / <p>The municipalities in Stockholm County's northeast has begun with a project to make more refugees faster to reach a greater independence and participation in society. The aim was to investigate how the Northeast municipalities analyze and assess newly arrived refugees skills and try to find out how they can improve their tools for analysis and assessment. Qualitative methodology was used, and seven interviews have taken place. Results show that the North East local authorities are working with skills mapping with professional and informal assessment in three months of training in the workplace. But they lack the tools and instruments that can be an aid to achieve the project purpose. Based on the literature read and an additional interview with another municipality in Stockholm County, presented several models and tools that can be used for skills analysis. My hope is that the survey's facts could be a basis for development work in the municipalities.</p>

<p>This study aims to identify the municipalities of Hallands’ methods, guidelines and policies in integration concerning new arrivals of children and teenagers. Some of the new arrivals are under the power of Swedish Migration Board and some of them are by a contract handed over to the municipalities. The evaluation is based on Michael Lipskys street-level bureaucracy which puts its focus on the lower level of bureaucrats meeting with clients. The frame is Skolverkets guideline for education of new arrivals which is more or less a way towards a common policy. The other document used to put up evaluation criteria’s is the Integration office united goals towards the receiving of new arrivals. The material for this evaluation is empirical in the sense of interviews made in the municipalities and document handed from each responsible bureaucrat. The result shows implications of the wide interpretation that the municipalities have. Some of them follow the directions and stop there, while others form routines and policies which go beyond the expectations. The conclusion of this study is that some municipalities have a lack of structure in the area for new arrivals of children and teenagers. This is in most of the cases because there also is a lack of liability areas. Most of the jobs are handed over to the principals who in the same way hand theirs over to the teachers. Bureaucrats need to know what is expected and there need to be documents or a reliable structure to work under.</p>

<p>Syftet med studien var att undersöka hur nyutbildade intensivvårdssjuksköterskor upplevde introduktionen på intensivvårdsavdelningen (IVA). Data samlades in genom semistrukturerade intervjuer av tio nyutbildade intensivvårdssjuksköterskor. Data analyserades med kvalitativ innehållsanalys. I huvudresultatet framkom två teman. Första temat ”Yttre faktorer som påverkar upplevelsen av introduktionen både positivt och negativt” innehöll kategorierna bemötande, checklista/introduktionsprogram, handledning, mentorskap, psykosociala miljön och organisatoriska faktorer. Dessa yttre faktorer påverkade upplevelsen av introduktionen och den enskilda sjuksköterskan hade själv svårt att påverka dessa. Andra temat ”Individfaktorer som påverkar upplevelsen av introduktionen både positivt och negativt” med kategorierna sammanhållning mellan de nyutbildade, att klara sig själv som ny samt känsla av att kunna påverka. För att tillfredsställa nyutexaminerade intensivvårdssjuksköterskors behov av god introduktion måste hänsyn tas till både yttre faktorer och individfaktorer.</p> / <p>The purpose of the study was to investigate how newly graduated intensive care nurses experienced their introduction at the intensive care unit. The data were collected by semi-structured interviews with ten new graduates further analysed using a qualitative content analysis method. The main result is presented in two themes. The first theme “External factors influencing the experience of introduction both negatively and positively”, included the categories: response, checklist/introduction program, supervision, mentorship, psychosocial environment and organisational factors. These external factors had an impact on the experience of the introduction, and the nurse herself/himself had difficult to influence those factors. The second theme “Individual factors influencing the experience of introduction both negatively and positively”, included the categories: social bonding among the graduates, to cope by herself/himself as a new graduate and sense of opportunity to influence. To be able to satisfy the needs of good quality introduction for newly graduate intensive care nurses, both external and individual factors must be considered.</p><p> </p>

<p>Background: Small businesses are key participants in the growth at the Swedish market, partly for the labour opportunities, the technology and economic development. These companies should get resources to grow, both political and economic resources. The medtech companies in an introduction and expansion phase meet with problems concerning the financing of their growth. Key participants whom offer financing are Venture Capitalists.</p><p>Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine Venture Capitalists demands on medtech companies in an introduction and expansion phase. A comparison between the demands and how well medtech companies achieve them will be done. In the event of occurring information and economic gap the study will elucidate the gaps.</p><p>Method: To gain such a encyclopaedic and just representation of the situation the authors carried through a combination of both quantitative and qualitative studies. The quantitative study got carried through by a questionnaire which got send by email to a number of medtech companies. The qualitative study was made up by interviews with three Venture Capitalists and three medtech companies.</p><p>Theory: To get at a greater understanding of the companies methods when obtaining capital, theories as the Pecking order, financial lifecycle and a third theory about which factors lead to small companies financial model, have been in used. And also a statement of a fourth theory, the financial gap, has been done. The theory describes an information asymmetry between the company and the financier. Models in use concerning the Venture Capitalists are constituted from their own documented claim surrounding financing.</p><p>Conclusion: The study indicates an occurrence of several factors that are important to obstruct the financial gap which accrue between medtech companies in early stages of their lifecycle and Venture Capitalists. The survey exhibit that Venture Capitalists are more willing to provide capital if a business angel already has invested in the company. A medtech company should seek itself to Venture Capitalists who have special qualification in life science because of their knowledge in the Medtech branch. Throughout the study we have realized that the younger a Medtech company is the less administrative it is. Therefore it should be important to impel a work as early as possible that involves more administration. Branch experts mention that it is important to increase clinical research and encouragement to fusion between companies to enlarge financing from Venture Capitalists.</p>

<p>This paper aims to examine how the beginning of newly examined teacher’s professional life might look like and also highlight the obstacles that might occur during the induction, the time during which the student becomes the teacher. The paper also discusses what support that is available for newly examined teachers in schools concerning the possibility to have a mentor and a period of introduction.</p><p>A qualitative method was used for this study and interviews were made with new teachers who shared their experiences from the beginning of their careers. The results from the interviews were also discussed from the points of view of the study’s theories concerning different leadership styles.</p><p>Two handbooks for new teachers, aiming to support them in their new professional role were compared. Based on the leadership styles that this paper brings up, the two books were discussed whether or not their advice is beneficial to new teachers.</p><p>New teachers experience various problems during their induction. Great responsibility combined with many tasks, loneliness as a class teacher and conflict management are a few of the areas that the new teachers find difficult. As a new teacher you have the right to have a mentor during the first year of teaching and the teacher unions are working for an establishment of a year of introduction where you will be gradually introduced to the profession. The people in the study had all had a mentor but neither got a period of introduction but they were left with full responsibility from the start. The advice given by the handbooks give new teachers guidance, but should be considered as an inspiration and not definitive solutions since every situation is unique.</p>

<p>Mitt syfte med detta arbete är att bidra med kunskap om förskollärares erfarenheter kring att arbeta med Lpfö 98 som styrdokument. Frågorna som ställdes gällde hur förskollärares erfarenheter av införandet av Lpfö 98 i förskolan ser ut, vilka skillnader de ser mellan att arbeta före införandet och idag, samt hur de använder läroplanen i den dagliga verksamheten. Jag har gjort kvalitativa intervjuer med fyra förskollärare som arbetar i förskolan. Gemensamt för de fyra är att de allihop har mer än 20 års erfarenhet av arbete i förskola, och alltså arbetade i förskolan under införandet av Lpfö 98. Resultatet av min undersökning visar att stöd från förskolechefer och ledning, var en viktig del, för att förskollärarna skulle kunna ta till sig och förstå Lpfö 98 när den infördes.</p><p>Förskolans roll har förändrats och blivit mer betydelsefull. Efter införandet av Lpfö 98, menar förskollärarna att föräldrarna är mer insatta i verksamheten, och kan ställa krav. Samtidigt som förskollärarna känner att föräldrarna lägger över ett stort ansvar på förskolan. Förskollärarna använder Lpfö 98, både för att ta fram mål för verksamheten att sträva mot, men också som ett uppslagsverk när de får funderingar kring något.</p> / <p>The purpose of this study is to contribute with knowledge about preschool teachers´ experiences from working with the curriculum, Lpfö 98, as a governing document. The questions asked concerns how preschool teachers´ experiences from the introduction of the curriculum in preschool look like, what differences they see between working before and after the introduction and also how they work with the curriculum in the daily activity. I have done qualitative interviews with four preschool teachers. Common for all of them is that they have more than 20 years of experience from working in preschools, and thus they also worked in preschool during the introduction of Lpfö 98. The result of my study shows that support from the principal of the preschool and the management was an important part in accepting and understanding Lpfö 98, when it was first introduced.</p><p>The preschool´s role has changed and become more significant. After the introduction of Lpfö 98, the preschool teachers feels that parents are more familiar with the preschool activity, and they can make demands. At the same time the preschool teachers feel that the parents put a lot of responsibility on the preschool. The preschool teachers use Lpfö 98, both for making goals for the preschool activity to strive for and as a book of reference when they reflect on something.</p>

A seed sowing experiment was conducted in a mixed secondary woodland on acidic soils in NE Germany with <i>Melampyrum pratense</i>, an annual ant-dispersed forest herb which lacks a natural population in the study area, but is abundant in similar habitats. Each set of 300 seeds was sown within one square metre at three sites in 1997, and the development of the populations was recorded from 1998 onward. Additionally, seed fall patterns were studied in a natural population by means of adhesive cardboard. All trials resulted in the recruitment of populations, which survived and increased in both individual number and area, up to the year 2001. Thus, local distribution of <i>Melampyrum pratense</i> is dispersallimited. Total individual number increased from 105 to 3,390, and total population area from 2.07 to 109.04 m². Migration occurred in all directions. Mean migration rate was 0.91 m per year, and the highest migration rate was 6.48 m. No individual was recorded beyond 7.63 m from the centres of the sawn squares after three years, suggesting exclusive short-distance dispersal. As primary dispersal enables only distances of up to 0.25 m, ants are presumed to be the main dispersal vectors. Despite differences in individual number and colonization patterns, migration rates did not differ significantly between the populations, but were significantly higher in 2001 due to an increased population size. Colonization patterns were characterized by a rapid, negative exponential decrease of population density with increasing distance from the sown plot, suggesting a colonization by establishment of more or less isolated outposts of individuals and a subsequent gradual infill of the gaps between. My results resemble myrmecochorous dispersal distances in temperate woodlands, and migration rates and patterns across ecotones from ancient to recent deciduous forests. They may function as a colonization model of <i>Melampyrum pratense</i> after accidental long-distance dispersal.

The introduction of carbon-fibre reinforced plastics in loadbearing automotive structures provides a great potential toreduce vehicle weight and fuel consumption. To enable themanufacture and assembly of composite structural parts,reliable and cost-effective joining technologies must bedeveloped. This thesis addresses several aspects of joining andload introduction in carbon-fibre reinforced plastics based onnon-crimp fabric reinforcement. The bearing strength of carbon fibre/epoxy laminates wasinvestigated considering the effects of bolt-hole clearance.The laminate failure modes and ultimate bearing strength werefound to be significantly dependent upon the laminate stackingsequence, geometry and lateral clamping load. Significantreduction in bearing strength at 4% hole deformation was foundfor both pin-loaded and clamped laminates. The ultimatestrength of the joints was found to be independent of theinitial bolt-hole clearance. The behaviour of hybrid (bolted/bonded) joints wasinvestigated both numerically and experimentally. Athree-dimensional non-linear finite element model was developedto predict the load transfer distribution in the joints. Theeffect of the joint geometry and adhesive material propertieson the load transfer was determined through a parameter study.An experimental investigation was undertaken to determine thestrength, failure mechanisms and fatigue life of hybrid joints.The joints were shown to have greater strength, stiffness andfatigue life in comparison to adhesive bonded joints. However,the benefits were only observed in joint designs which allowedfor load sharing between the adhesive and the bolt. The effect of the environment on the durability of bondedand hybrid joints was investigated. The strength and fatiguelife of the joints was found to decrease significantly withincreased ageing time. Hybrid joints demonstrated increasedfatigue life in comparison to adhesive bonded joints afterageing in a cyclic freeze/thaw environment. The strength and failure mechanisms of composite laminatessubject to localised transverse loading were investigatedconsidering the effect of the specimen size, stacking sequenceand material system. Damage was found to initiate in thelaminates at low load levels, typically 20-30% of the ultimatefailure load. The dominant initial failure mode wasintralaminar shear failure, which occurred in sub-surfaceplies. Two different macromechanical failure modes wereidentified, fastener pull-through failure and global collapseof the laminate. The damage patterns and ultimate failure modewere found to depend upon the laminate stacking sequence andresin system. Finite element analysis was used to analyse thestress distribution within the laminates and predict first-plyfailure. Keywords:Composite, laminate, bearing strength,joining, load introduction, hybrid joint, finite elementanalysis, mechanical testing.