Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Dept. of Statistics, August 2001. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

Thesis--M.D., University of Hong Kong. / Typewritten.

Thesis (M.D.)--University of Hong Kong, 1987.

Thesis (M.S. in Leadership and Human Resource Development)--Naval Postgraduate School, June 2003. / Thesis advisor(s): Alice Crawford, Linda Mallory. Includes bibliographical references (p. 67-69). Also available online.

In this thesis we develop a new model that explains the overall grief recovery process for abusiness failure on a family group level. The model builds on, and expands the theories ofanticipatory grief as presented by Shepherd, Wiklund, and Haynie (2009) and the dual processof coping presented by Shepherd (2003). The qualitative method used for this thesiswas a multiple case study approach, with an in-depth focus. Our main findings was the importanceof aligning the entrepreneurs anticipatory grief stage with the family’s coping process,by maintaining transparent and open relationships where information could easily beexchanged. In addition we found that maintaining this transparency was often difficult forthe entrepreneur due to a series of factors, which we refer to as a “barrier to informationflow”, which include everything from stress to societal interference. Finally we proposehow our model can be applied and used to generate further knowledge and additional researchon the emotional aspects of a business failure.

published_or_final_version / Nursing Studies / Master / Master of Nursing

Failure time data analysis, or survival analysis, is involved in various research fields, such as medicine and public health. One basic assumption in standard survival analysis is that every individual in the study population will eventually experience the event of interest. However, this assumption is usually violated in practice, for example when the variable of interest is the time to relapse of a curable disease resulting in the existence of long-term survivors. Also, presence of unobservable risk factors in the group of susceptible individuals may introduce heterogeneity to the population, which is not properly addressed in standard survival models. Moreover, the individuals in the population may be grouped in clusters, where there are associations among observations from a cluster. There are methodologies in the literature to address each of these problems, but there is yet no natural and satisfactory way to accommodate the coexistence of a non-susceptible group and the heterogeneity in the susceptible group under a univariate setting. Also, various kinds of associations among survival data with a cure are not properly accommodated. To address the above-mentioned problems, a class of models is introduced to model univariate and multivariate data with long-term survivors. A semiparametric cure model for univariate failure time data with long-term survivors is introduced. It accommodates a proportion of non-susceptible individuals and the heterogeneity in the susceptible group using a compound- Poisson distributed random effect term, which is commonly called a frailty. It is a frailty-Cox model which does not place any parametric assumption on the baseline hazard function. An estimation method using multiple imputation is proposed for right-censored data, and the method is naturally extended to accommodate interval-censored data. The univariate cure model is extended to a multivariate setting by introducing correlations among the compound- Poisson frailties for individuals from the same cluster. This multivariate cure model is similar to a shared frailty model where the degree of association among each pair of observations in a cluster is the same. The model is further extended to accommodate repeated measurements from a single individual leading to serially correlated observations. Similar estimation methods using multiple imputation are developed for the multivariate models. The univariate model is applied to a breast cancer data and the multivariate models are applied to the hypobaric decompression sickness data from National Aeronautics and Space Administration, although the methodologies are applicable to a wide range of data sets. / published_or_final_version / Statistics and Actuarial Science / Master / Master of Philosophy

Chronic heart failure is one of the commonest fatal diseases in the world. Much work has been done to reveal its complicated pathogenesis and develop effective therapy. Xinmailong (XML), a compound extracted from Periplaneta americana, has been launched on the market in Mainland China as a proprietary medication for treating patients with chronic heart failure. Although it is highly effective, its mechanism of action is still not completely understood. In this study, the results of calcium (〖Ca〗^(2+)) imaging demonstrated that XML increased electrical impulse-induced intracellular calcium ([〖Ca〗^(2+)]i), in H9c2 cells, an rat embryonic cardiomyocytes cell line. This effect was dependent on extracellular 〖Ca〗^(2+) but not the 〖Ca〗^(2+) store from sarcoplasmic reticulum because XML had no effect on thapsigargin -induced 〖Ca〗^(2+) release. The effect of XML was inhibited by ML218-HCl but not nimodipine, indicating that XML interacted with T-type 〖Ca〗^(2+) channels but not L-type 〖Ca〗^(2+) channels. Unlike KB-R7943, which is a sodium calcium exchanger inhibitor, XML did not affect [〖Ca〗^(2+)]i in the absence of electric stimulation, implying that XML did not work on sodium calcium exchanger. Ouabain, a sodium-potassium ATPase inhibitor, increased the electrical impulse-induced [〖Ca〗^(2+)]i and the effect of ouabain and XML were not additive, suggesting that the site of action of ouabain and XML was overlapped. Biochemical assay on phosphate concentration showed that XML was able to inhibit the activity of sodium-potassium ATPase. Our study also demonstrated that XML reduced the production of reactive oxygen species in H9c2 cells. Western blotting showed that such antioxidant properties mechanism might involve the increased expressions of antioxidant enzymes including superoxide dismutase 1, superoxide dismutase 2 and heme oxygenase 1. In conclusion, our study has provided evidence that XML increases [〖Ca〗^(2+)]i level by activating T-type 〖Ca〗^(2+) channels and inhibiting sodium-potassium ATPase. The antioxidant effect of XML may also contribute to the cardioprotective effect of XML but further investigation is required. / published_or_final_version / Pharmacology and Pharmacy / Master / Master of Philosophy

Failure haunts Mexico's historical imagination. Mexican intellectuals express a negative view of their country's history--especially vis-à-vis its nineteenth-century founding--and this negativity spills over into contemporary political and social discourse. To be sure, they have much to lament about the nineteenth century: multiple foreign invasions, rampant political instability and cronyism, excessive foreign debt, heavy-handed military leaders, and lest we forget, the loss of half the national territory. My dissertation analyzes narratives of failure in five historical novels, written between 1982 and 2005: Jorge Ibargüengoitia's Los pasos de López (1982), Rosa Beltrán's La corte de los ilusos (1995), Ignacio Solares' La invasión (2005), Fernando del Paso's Noticias del imperio (1987), and Enrique Serna's El seductor de la patria (1999). I define narratives of failure as discursive strategies that highlight--and often poeticize--perceived cultural, political, and social shortcomings. They are historical arguments that attempt to explain, justify, embellish, expose, or reinterpret contemporary problems as the atavistic result of prior shortcomings. They mediate between lofty aspirations and unsatisfied goals. They seek to ameliorate the psychological trauma resulting from loss. And despite apparent pessimism, these narratives tend to be fiercely nationalistic. It might be said that the transmission of failure narratives from one generation of intellectuals to the next has concretized their existence. Once in place, narratives of failure inform debates about nationhood, democracy, stability, and autonomy. Inertia propels these ideas forward. Despite the prevalence of these narratives in most genres, nowhere does failure manifest itself more clearly than in historical novels that recreate the nineteenth century. Furthermore these narratives are intimately tied up with the nation's guiding fictions. As authors employ narratives of failure, they reinterpret the nation's foundational moments. At times this serves to challenge official stories and dogmas or to liberate enduring symbols for reinterpretation. Narratives of failure challenge citizens to rethink their nation, their history, and themselves.

published_or_final_version / Medicine / Master / Doctor of Medicine