Numerous studies have indicated racial and ethnic disparities in the vocational rehabilitation (VR) system, including differences in eligibility, services provided, and employment outcomes. Few of these studies, however, have utilized advanced multivariate techniques or latent constructs to measure quality of employment outcomes (QEO) or tested hypothesized models for the relationship between race, personal history characteristics, and VR outcomes. Furthermore, few VR disparities studies have examined southwestern states such as Texas, which has large Hispanic and Black populations. The purpose of this study was to utilize structural equation modeling (SEM) to examine several implied conceptual models for the relationship between race, personal history characteristics, and VR outcomes for White, Black, and Hispanic participants in the Texas VR system. The implied conceptual models were tested for goodness of fit and multiple-group invariance. A measurement model for QEO, a latent construct, was tested and used in the study. QEO was measured by three indicator variables and evaluated using confirmatory factor analysis. A MIMIC model was tested to assess racial/ethnic variation in QEO. The MIMIC results were compared to a multiple regression approach. In addition, a path model and logistic regressions were conducted to assess racial variation in VR closure status among consumers who were unemployed at application to VR. All models were retested with an independent sample to assess predictive validity. The study results indicated good model fit and measurement invariance for the QEO construct. The structural model for race, personal history characteristics, and QEO indicated moderate model fit. It also indicated interaction effects for race by gender and for race by public support. The MIMIC model results suggest that QEO decreased for Blacks and Hispanics compared to Whites. Furthermore, the MIMIC results, which utilized QEO as an endogenous variable, differed from the multiple regression findings, which utilized one criterion. The multiple regression findings indicated no statistically significant difference between Blacks and Whites. The path model for race and VR closure status indicated poor model fit. The logistic regression indicated no racial/ethnic differences in VR closure status. Several model estimates did not cross-validate. Study limitations and suggestions for future research are described. / text

Finding disparity maps between stereo images is a well studied topic within computer vision. While both classical and machine learning approaches exist in the literature, they frequently struggle to correctly solve the disparity in regions with low texture, sharp edges or occlusions. Finding approximate solutions to these problem areas is frequently referred to as disparity refinement, and is usually carried out separately after an initial disparity map has been generated. In the recent literature, the use of Normalized Convolution in Convolutional Neural Networks have shown remarkable results when applied to the task of stereo depth completion. This thesis investigates how well this approach performs in the case of disparity refinement. Specifically, we investigate how well such a method can improve the initial disparity maps generated by the stereo matching algorithm developed at Saab Dynamics using a rectified stereo rig. To this end, a dataset of ground truth disparity maps was created using equipment at Saab, namely a setup for structured light and the stereo rig cameras. Because the end goal is a dataset fit for training networks, we investigate an approach that allows for efficient creation of significant quantities of dense ground truth disparities. The method for generating ground truth disparities generates several disparity maps for every scene measured by using several stereo pairs. A densified disparity map is generated by merging the disparity maps from the neighbouring stereo pairs. This resulted in a dataset of 26 scenes and 104 dense and accurate disparity maps. Our evaluation results show that the chosen Normalized Convolution Network based method can be adapted for disparity map refinement, but is dependent on the quality of the input disparity map.

In this thesis, a novel and fast method to compute the dense disparity map of a stereo pair of images is presented. Most of the current stereo matching algorithms are ill suited for real-time matching owing to their time complexity. Methods that concentrate on providing a real-time performance, sacrifice much in accuracy. The presented method, Fast Estimation of Dense Disparity Map Using Pivot Points (FEDDUP), uses a hierarchical approach towards reduction of search space to find the correspondences. The hierarchy starts with a set of points and then it moves on to a mesh with which the edge pixels are matched. This results in a semi-global disparity map. The semi global disparity map is then used as a soft constraint to find the correspondences of the remaining points. This process delivers good real-time performance with promising accuracy.

Assessing hormone receptors (the estrogen and progesterone receptors) and the human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) to guide clinical decision making revolutionized treatment for breast cancer patients. However, in the years since these biomarkers were first incorporated into routine clinical care, only a few others have been validated as clinically useful in guiding adjuvant chemotherapy decisions and are recommended by the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) for patients with hormone-positive breast cancer. For patients with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), which lacks hormone and HER2 receptors, not any of these biomarkers are recommended by ASCO due to insufficient evidence that they meaningfully improve clinical outcomes. Breast cancer is the second-leading cause of cancer-related death among women in the US, indicating an unmet need to improve treatments, which can be accomplished in part by identifying and validating novel predictive and prognostic biomarkers that yield actionable information about the clinical course of breast cancers, especially TNBCs. A major obstacle to improving outcomes for breast cancer patients is intratumor heterogeneity (ITH), which can be extensive in breast cancer and drives treatment resistance and relapse. I envision that assaying drivers of ITH can inform clinicians about which breast tumors may be intrinsically more aggressive and carry a greater risk of breast cancer-related morbidity and mortality. My research, presented here, primarily focuses on testing the impact of drivers of ITH (namely, centrosome amplification [CA], the clustering protein KIFC1, and mitotic propensity and its drivers) on clinical outcomes in breast cancer in multivariable models as well as the correlates of in vitro efficacy of centrosome declustering drugs (which can selectively eliminate cancer cells with CA). Collectively, these studies reveal gene signatures and immunohistochemical biomarkers that are independent predictors of aggressive breast cancer course and rational strategies to optimize targeted therapy to combat cancer cells exhibiting CA, thereby contributing to the literature on the development of precision medicine for breast cancer patients, including TNBC patients.

The primary goal of this study was to analyze existing racial profiling data collected and reported by law enforcement agencies in Texas. The internet-based data used was obtained through TCOLE, as it is the state mandated repository in which all law enforcement agencies must submit their annual racial profiling reports to. In analyzing a collection requirement of these reports, this study sought to determine how frequently law enforcement officers know the race or ethnicity of drivers prior to traffic stops. Furthermore, the study sought to determine if there are differences in the rates of race or ethnicity known prior to stops across Texas geographical regions, county population sizes, agency types, as well as between counties with and without interstate thoroughfares. This analysis consisted of 3,250,984 traffic stops conducted by 1,186 law enforcement agencies in 2014. Findings revealed that law enforcement officers rarely know the race or ethnicity of drivers prior to traffic stops, as was consistently found across all measures. Findings and implications are discussed.

This work focuses on regional disparities in the Sphere in the Vysočina Region. This work analyses the offer of tourism in these area, it looks for disparities in microregions Pelhřimovsko and Jihlavsko and it recommends indikators for their measuring. Using this indicators this work assesses the disparities of tourism and recommends some ways to reduce these regional disparities.

Entender a relação entre riqueza de espécies e diversidade de nichos ecológicos pode auxiliar a compreensão dos diferentes processos que governam a coexistência de espécies. Caracterizar o nicho de diversas espécies não é trivial, e o nicho é frequentemente estudado a partir de características morfológicas. A massa corpórea está relacionada com características metabólicas, fisiológicas, comportamentais e ecológicas das espécies e então é ideal para estudos ecológicos que envolvem muitas espécies e localidades. Em teoria, um aumento na riqueza de espécies poderia ocorrer tanto pela expansão do espaço de nicho total, quanto pelo empacotamento de nicho, ou mesmo por uma combinação de ambos. Neste trabalho utilizamos massa corpórea de mamíferos terrestres para investigar a ocupação do morfoespaço e a relação dessa ocupação com a riqueza de espécies tanto em assembleias locais, quanto em biotas continentais. No primeiro capítulo desta dissertação, investigamos a variação espacial da disparidade morfológica de mamíferos terrestres e sua relação com a riqueza de espécies. Utilizamos os dados de distribuição geográfica de 4146 espécies para determinar a composição de assembléias locais em um grid com células com 1º de lado. Para cada assembleia, calculamos quatro medidas de disparidade morfológica utilizando massa corpórea como um descritor da morfologia de mamíferos. Comparamos as medidas de disparidade de cada célula com o que seria esperado de acordo com dois modelos nulos (um global e outro regional) que diferem em relação ao pool utilizado para reamostragem. No segundo capítulo, investigamos o efeito da extinção da megafauna e os possíveis efeitos das extinções atuais na distribuição de massa de mamíferos terrestres. De acordo com trabalhos anteriores a distribuição de massa de mamíferos tornou-se bimodal 40 milhões de anos atrás e assim se manteve até o final do Pleistoceno, quando foi modificada pela extinção da megafauna, tornando-se unimodal. Ajustamos dois modelos concorrentes (bimodal e unimodal assimétrico) às distribuições de massa corpórea dos mamíferos de todo o globo e de cada continente separadamente em três momentos de tempo: Final do Pleistoceno, Holoceno e Antropoceno. Os resultados obtidos nos dois capítulos, apesar de observados em escalas muito distintas, sugerem um padrão de empacotamento de nichos nos Neotrópicos. Esse padrão não é influenciado pela extinção da megafauna, e se deve à diversificação de grupos específicos no continente sul americano. Grande parte das espécies dos grupos endêmicos são arborícolas sugerindo a importância das florestas tropicais na diversificação de mamíferos desse continente. Nossos resultados também sugerem que a perda das espécies ameaçadas de extinção no Antropoceno irão resultar em mudanças significativas na África e na Eurásia, dois continentes menos afetados pelas extinções do Pleistoceno / Understand the relation between species richness and ecological niche diversity might help to understand processes behind species coexistence. However, to quantify species niche is not easy and a ecomorfological approach is often used instead. Body mass is related to several life history traits such as metabolism, physiology, behaviour and ecology, thus being the ideal trait for studies comparing many different species and localities. In theory, increases in species richness could be attained by an expansion of total niche space or by niche packing, or even by a combination of both. Here we use terrestrial mammals body mass to investigate morphospace occupation and its relation to species richness in both local assemblages and continental biotas. In the first chapter, we investigate the spatial variation of morphological disparity of terrestrial mammals and its relation to species richness. We used species distributions of 4146 species to determine the composition of local assemblages in a grid of 1º cells. For each assemblage we measured four morphological disparity metrics using body mass as a surrogate of mammalian morphology. We compared the observed disparity measures for each cell with the expected distribution given by two null models (one global and other regional) that differ for the species pool used to perform resamples. In the second chapter we investigated the effect of megafauna extinctions and possible effects of ongoing extinctions on the body mass distribution of terrestrial mammals. Previous studies suggest that the body mass distribution of mammals became bimodal 40 million years ago and so remained until the end of the Pleistocene, when it was modified by megafauna extinction and became unimodal. We fitted two concurring models (a bimodal and a skewed unimodal) to the body mass distribution of global mammals and of each continent separately in tree time frames: Late Pleistocene, Holocene and Anthropocene. The results from both chapters, although from observation in different scales, suggest a pattern of niche packing on the Neotropics. This pattern is not biased by the recent megafauna extinction, but is due to the diversification of clades specific to the South American continent during its period of isolation. A high proportion of the species in these endemic groups is arboreal suggesting the importance of tropical forests in the diversification of mammals in this continent. Our results also suggest that the possible loss of endangered species in the Anthropocene will result in meaningful changes in Africa and Eurasia, two continents that where less affected by Pleistocene extinctions

Palaeontological data are essential for determining patterns of biological diversity through geological time, enabling the investigation of important macroevolutionary events such as mass extinctions and explosive radiations. Most studies utilise proxies of taxonomic diversity. A more complex undertaking is to assess patterns of morphological variety (disparity) through time, revealing the manner in which groups evolved through their ‘design space’. Many published studies indicate clades tend to reach their maximum disparity early in their evolutionary history. Whether this is a real biological pattern has yet to be tested. Chapter 1 tackles the evolution of disparity in metazoans across the Phanerozoic. The results of a meta-analysis of disparity in 98 extinct clades indicate early high disparity is the most prevalent pattern across the Phanerozoic but finds no clear trends through the Phanerozoic. Mass extinction ended clades were the exception, tending to result in late high disparity. Chapters 2-4 focus on the clade Bivalvia for disparity and diversity analysis. Bivalves are ecologically and taxonomically diverse and have an excellent fossil record but have not been scrutinised using the latest diversity techniques, and have been untouched by disparity analysis. Chapter 2 uses the most up to date stratigraphic ranges and techniques to revise the bivalve Phanerozoic diversity curve. The results show bivalve Phanerozoic diversity is robust to the sampling and fossil record biases examined. Chapter 3 uses data provided as part of collaboration between Martin Hughes, Dr Joseph Carter (University of North Carolina) and Dr Matthew Wills (University of Bath) to address the disparity of bivalves across the Palaeozoic. The results find disparity rises across time but not decreased by mass extinctions. Chapter 4 conducts the first large scale analysis of disparity across latitude. The results find that bivalve disparity across latitude is unchanging and stable compared to the steep gradient of bivalve diversity.

African American communities have been subject to institutional and societal inequalities for much of our nation’s history. A review of the literature has shown that these families have unequal access to resources and opportunities, especially in the comparison to the rest of the population. These factors may contribute to African American children having higher rates of substantiated cases of abuse and neglect, as well as the amount of time that these children spend in the foster care system. A qualitative study was conducted in the form of focus groups. The study examined the African American community’s perspective of the child welfare system and the social workers they may have come in contact with in the scope of their possible child welfare experience. Common themes that emerged included a lack of understanding of both the system and services provided, a sense of mistrust between the community and government agencies, and the need for more resources specifically for the African American community. Proposed solutions to alleviate the disproportionality problems in child welfare included social workers teaming with families, mentorships between African Americans, and collaborations with other agencies.

The over-representation of Black children within the child welfare system has been an ongoing topic of discussion for decades across the country. The common theme, across the United States, is that Black children are entering the child welfare systems at disproportionate rates compared to their counterparts and they tend to experience disparities in outcomes including higher recidivism rates and lower reunification rates. Although many studies examine the factors that contribute to this alarming trend, the problem still exists within child welfare systems across the country. This quantitative study’s purpose was to examine the perceptions of MSW Title IV-E students related to disproportionality and disparity among Black families within child welfare agencies. The study examined whether participants’ perceptions varied by the participant’s race/ethnicity. Participants completed an online questionnaire using Qualtrics software. Data were analyzed using SPSS statistical software and statistical tests including frequencies, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), and Tukey’s post-hoc test. Significant differences were found in perceptions between Black/African American participants and Latino/Hispanic participants. These findings and their implications are discussed.