A flow duration curve (FDC) defines the relation between the flow amount of any time (daily, yearly, or another time) and its frequency. Moreover, FDCs are used in many water resources projects. However, the ungauged basins or limited amount of gauging in a basin is a common problem. Therefore, regional FDCs are needed to be developed in ungauged basins. Oltu basin has been chosen as the study area, which is located in the north-eastern part of Turkey in &Ccedil / oruh Basin. Two parametric approaches and a statistical approach have been applied to develop regional flow duration curves (FDCs) in Oltu Basin. Parametric approaches cover two different models, namely Model Kocatepe, which is a five parameter model depending on the regression analysis between discharge having certain probability of occurrences and geomorphologic and climatic factors / Model Quimpo, which is a two parameter model proposed by Quimpo. Lognormal distribution has been used in the statistical approach. Several performance indices have been evaluated to decide on if the model dependable or not. As a result of these analysis, it is concluded that, Model Quimpo gives good results in small basins, whereas, Model Kocatepe is effective in large areas. Statistical approach is not an appropriate method to use while regionalizing FDCs in Oltu basin.The analysis performed for short-term duration has revealed that 5-years record lengths of discharges are enough to develop a dependable FDC compared to regional FDC. The validation results and the performance indices are presented with the analysis results.

Poverty analysis has been confined to incidence studies in Turkey. In the last decade research has focused on poverty persistence referred to as &bdquo / new poverty

In this thesis, we examine labor market outcomes for the youth (ages 15-29) using microdata from several rounds of the Turkish Household Labor Force Survey (HLFS). We begin by examining demographic trends. We then rely on synthetic cohorts. The fact that the HLFS sample frame targets the civilian non-institutional population brings about difficulties in interpreting labor market indicators. We show that a more reasonable picture of schooling and work choices emerges when a simple correction for &lsquo / missing males&rsquo / who are doing their CMS and examine the effect of Compulsory Military Service (CMS) on the transition from school to work by using discrete hazard models. We also investigate the time it takes to find the first permanent job to shed light on the recent evolution of the transition from school to work.Using Cox Proportional Hazard Model, we examine the effects of structural reforms and macro-economic conditions, and the permanence of these effects. We are able to study the differences in the hazard of obtaining the first permanent job by education levels non-parametrically. Finally, we investigate the changes in the cumulative baseline hazards over time and test for the presence of gender differences in the hazard rates by using time varying covariates. With the help of these covariates, we are able to compute the time needed for the closure of the gender gap.

The main purpose of the study is to compare the differences of marketing strategies of the two-dimension classification, which classified by degree of customization and benefit duration period. And to explore the influences of the strategic selection of the services industries by different organization¡¦s features and different strategies maker¡¦s characters. The research takes eight industries as population to investigate their marketing strategies. After collected, the data is processed with frequency analysis, factor analysis, discriminant analysis, one-way ANOVA, and two-way ANOVA. The key findings are: 1. The result indicates that two dimension classification method is more efficiently to reflect the differences of the marketing strategic between different taxonomies of service. 2. Service of ¡§high degree of customization and long benefit duration period¡¨ focuses on the marketing strategies such as ¡§public relationship strategy,¡¨ ¡§strategy of emphasizing the importance of employees,¡¨ and ¡§building the intangible quality image strategy, The strategies such as ¡§low price strategy,¡¨ ¡§advertisement strategy,¡¨ and ¡§non-personal promotion,¡¨ which only can bringing short-term effect, are hardly used. 3. Service of ¡§low degree of customization and short benefit duration period¡¨ is just the opposite, emphasizing the strategies which can bring the instant effect. 4. Service of ¡§high degree of customization and short benefit duration period¡¨ prefers the use of ¡§strategy under smoothing the unbalance of supply and demand.¡¨

Thesis (M.S.)--State University of New York at Binghamton, Department of Psychology, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references.

Bakgrund: Kvinnor rekommenderas av Världshälsoorganisationen att amma exklusivt i sex månader och delvis i två år eller längre. Studier visar att amning har hälsofrämjande effekter på både modern och barnet. Trots detta är amningsförekomsten en sjunkande trend i Sverige. Råd och stöd av sjuksköterskor har betydelse för amningsförekomsten. Studier visar att mödrar som har hög self-efficacy till sin förmåga att amma, ammar i högre utsträckning. Syfte: Att undersöka om en intervention i form av evidensbaserad amningsinformation kan öka mödrars self-efficacy kring amning samt om förekomsten av exklusiv amning ökade när barnet var fyra veckor gammalt. Metod: Studien genomfördes med kvantitativ ansats och var baserad på en kvasiexperimentell före- och efter design med en kontrollgrupp (n=23) och en interventionsgrupp (n=27). Ett konsekutivt urval användes för att rekrytera förstföderskor. Interventionen bestod av en evidensbaserad amningsbroschyr samt strukturerad muntlig information med hjälp av ett blädderblock som gavs på BB. Mätning av self-efficacy genomfördes med hjälp av Breastfeeding Self-Efficacy Score-Short Form på BB samt när barnet var fyra veckor gammalt. Resultat: De mödrar som ammade exklusivt när barnet var fyra veckor gammalt hade högre self-efficacy till skillnad från de mödrar som ammade delvis. Skattningen av self-efficacy ökade inom båda grupperna från första till andra mättillfället. Interventionsgruppen skattade sig ha högre self-efficacy än mödrar i kontrollgruppen. Slutsats: Att mäta self-efficacy på BB kan indikera hur amningsförekomsten kommer att föreligga. Interventionen påverkade mödrarnas self-efficacy och förekomsten av exklusiv amning när barnet var fyra veckor. / Background: Women are recommended by the World Health Organization to breastfeed exclusively for six months and partially for two years or beyond. Studies show that breastfeeding has health benefits for both mother and infant. Despite this, the breastfeeding prevalence is declining in Sweden. Advice and support from nurses are important for the breastfeeding prevalence. Studies show that having high self-efficacy in relation to breastfeeding is associated with high prevalence of breastfeeding. Aim: To investigate whether an intervention in the form of evidence-based breastfeeding information can increase maternal self-efficacy in relation to breastfeeding and whether this increased the prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding when the infant was four weeks old. Method: The study was conducted with a quantitative approach and was based on a quasiexperimental before-and-after design with a control group (n=23) and an intervention group (n=27). A consecutive sample was used for the recruitment of mothers, all primiparous. The intervention consisted of an evidence-based breastfeeding brochure and structured verbal information using a flipchart that was given at the postnatal ward. Maternal breastfeeding self-efficacy was measured at the postnatal ward on BB and when the infant was four weeks old using the Breastfeeding Self-Efficacy Score-Short From. Result: Mothers who breastfed exclusively when the baby was four weeks old had higher selfefficacy compared to mothers who breastfed partially. Self-efficacy increased in both groups from the first to the second measurement. The intervention group had higher breastfeeding self-efficacy than mothers in the control group. Conclusion: Measuring maternal breastfeeding of self-efficacy at the postnatal ward can indicate future breastfeeding prevalence. The intervention had an impact on mothers' breastfeeding self-efficacy and the prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding when the baby was four weeks old.

Recent studies have shown that even highly-proficient Spanish-English bilinguals, who acquired their second language (L2) in childhood and have little or no foreign accent in English, may require more acoustic information than monolinguals in order to identify English vowels and may have more difficulty than monolinguals in understanding speech in noise or reverberation (Mayo, Florentine, and Buus, 1997; Febo, 2003). One explanation that may account for this difference is that bilingual listeners use acoustic cues for vowel identification differently from monolinguals (Flege, 1995).In this study, we investigated this hypothesis by comparing bilingual listeners use of acoustic cues to vowel identification to that of monolinguals for six American English vowels presented under listening conditions created to manipulate the acoustic cues of vowel formant dynamics and duration. Three listener groups were tested: monolinguals, highly proficient bilinguals, and less proficient bilinguals. Stimulus creation included recording of six target vowels (/i, I, eI, E, ae, A/) in /bVd/ context, spoken in a carrier phrase by four American monolinguals (two females, two males). Six listening conditions were created: 1) whole word, 2) isolated vowel, 3) resynthesized with no change, 4) resynthesized with neutralized duration, 5) resynthesized with flattened formants, and 6) resynthesized with flattened formats and neutralized duration. The resynthesized stimuli were created using high-fidelity synthesis procedures (Straight; Kawahara, Masuda-Katsuse, and Cheveigne 1998) and digital manipulation. A six-alternative forced choice listening task was used. The main experiment was composed of 240 isolated vowel trials and 48 whole word trials.

This dissertation contains two chapters on law and economics and one chapter on international trade. An important but under-researched issue for medical malpractice (med-mal) litigation is how physicians' previous medical malpractice experiences affect their behaviour. Using Florida data on closed med-mal claims, I find that if physicians have prior paid claims, their current litigation is resolved faster and is associated with less cost. Having a prior payout does not significantly predict the likelihood or the amount of the current payout. This suggests that ``learning'' occurs as a result of prior med-mal experience. As a theoretical motivation, I developed a dynamic version of the divergent expectations (DE) litigation model. The model predicts, consistent with the data, that physicians have a more realistic analysis of med-mal litigation if they have prior experience. Many robustness checks are carried out to test the results, including using a fixed effect framework, to which the results are robust. In the second chapter, we investigate the impact of ``duty to settle'' rule in predicting patterns in data. Prior models and studies of settlement ignore the insurer's ``duty to settle'' -- the obligation to settle within policy limits if it would be unreasonable to refuse a within-limits settlement offer. We incorporate the duty to settle into a structural model of settlement of medical malpractice claims, and then estimate the model using maximum likelihood methods applied to a Texas closed claims database. Both the data and our model predict: a mass of cases with a settlement demand by the plaintiff exactly at limits; a smaller but still sizeable mass of cases with settlement exactly at limits; very few above-limits payments by insureds; and when above-limits payments are made, they are often by insurers. The model does a reasonable job in predicting data moments, including fractions of cases settled at limits, settled above limits, and tried. Using the model in counterfactual analysis, we predict: (i) with no duty to settle, more cases will be tried; (ii) with strict insurer liability for not settling within limits, there will be fewer trials and more above limits payments by insurers; and (iii) the duty to settle will rarely cause insurers to pay more than the expected value of claims. The third chapter of this dissertation is on international trade. There is a well established literature on the impact of sovereign debt renegotiation on bilateral trade, including Rose (2005) among others. However, there is no study that disentangles impacts of renegotiation on the intensive and extensive margins, where the former is the trade volume of established bilateral trading relationships and the latter is the number of established relationships. This study employs the UNComTrade dataset and debt renegotiation data from the Paris Club for over 150 countries in order to address the impact of a debt renegotiation on the extensive margin of trade. This paper finds that bilateral trade volume declines following a sovereign debt renegotiation. The result is robust to the use of trade lags as instrumental variables to address endogeneity. Consistent with the trade literature, this study documents a negative impact of a debt renegotiation on the trade value using the Tobit approach in a fixed effect model, to appropriately handle censored data. Interestingly, a comparison between the marginal impacts of a debt renegotiation on the extensive and the intensive margins shows that the former effect has at least the same magnitude as the latter. / text

Functional Analysis is an important component of creating a treatment plan for individuals with autism. A concern of functional analysis is that it might not match the natural environment in which the problem behavior occurs. Dimensions such as varying reinforcement duration and session length may affect response rates during functional analyses in natural settings. This study investigated if varying reinforcement duration and session length during functional analyses would affect the identification of the function of problem behavior across assessors, and the intervention designed based on the functional analyses would be effective in reducing stereotypic behavior and teaching communicative skills of an adolescent with autism at home. An alternating treatment design was used to conduct functional analyses and an ABA design with generalization probes was used to test the effectiveness the function-based intervention. Results indicated that the participant's stereotypic behavior was maintained by automotive reinforcement. The intervention developed based on the function of the stereotypic behavior was found to be effective in reducing the stereotypy and teaching communicative behavior.

The experiments described in this thesis use psychophysical techniques and human observers to investigate temporal processing in the millisecond range. The thesis contains five main sections. Introductory chapters provide a brief overview of the visual and auditory systems, before detailing our current understanding of duration processing. During the course of this review, several important questions are highlighted. The experiments detailed in Chapters 8-11 seek to address these questions using the psychophysical techniques outlined in Chapter 7. The results of these experiments increase our understanding of duration perception in several areas. Firstly, Experiments 1 and 2 (Chapter 8) highlight the role of low level stimulus features: even when equated for visibility stimuli of differing spatial frequency have different perceived durations. Secondly, a psychophysical hypothesis arising from the 'duration channels' or 'labelled lines' model of duration perception is given strong support by the adaptation experiments detailed in Chapter 9 and 10. Specifically, adaptation to durations of a fixed temporal extent induces repulsive duration aftereffects that are sensory specific and bandwidth limited around the adapted duration. Finally Chapter 11 describes the results of experiments designed to probe the processing hierarchy within duration perception by measuring the interdependency of illusions generated via duration adaptation and via multisensory cue combination. The results of these experiments demonstrate that duration adaptation is a relatively early component of temporal processing and is likely to be sub served by duration selective neurons situated in early sections of the visual and auditory systems.