Thesis (M.S. in Operations Research) Naval Postgraduate School, March 1997. / Thesis advisor, Robert R. Read. AD-A329 431. Includes bibliographical references (p. 59). Also available online.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Human Nutrition / Edgar Chambers IV / Companies introduce new products with the goal of achieving success. However, many products fail. The overall objective of this research was to design processes for determining sensory and market characteristics of food products that could predict success. The first sub-objective was to determine if success could be predicted using information known before launch. The second sub-objective was to describe a process for determining specific sensory characteristics that promote success. Most methods chosen for this research are commonly used. However, previous research has identified a relationship between consumers liking and salivation, without defining a method. Thus, three salivation methods were selected for initial testing: spit, cotton rolls and sensory scale. These were tested on foods with different textures. Although all methods gave similar results, the spit method was chosen for further testing of flavor differences. Differences in salivation measurements were found for snacks where flavors were different but texture was unchanged. Next, flavored snack products from 15 countries were selected that were successful or had failed. Questionnaires were completed for each product and included questions related to authenticity, familiarity, current trends, packaging and marketplace issues such as product competition and pricing, all of which would be known before launch. A discriminant function was developed that correctly identified 75.8% of the successful flavored snack products as successful and 66.7% of the unsuccessful products as unsuccessful. Stepwise comparisons were used to determine that four variables are necessary to correctly categorize these products. The products then were clustered into three groups to select 34 products from 11 countries for further sensory testing. Information from extensive sensory descriptive methods were evaluated individually and in various combinations through stepwise regression and discriminant analysis. The final sensory model correctly predicted all successful and unsuccessful products, had an R-square of 0.84 and included nine regression factors: seven flavor attributes and two flavor attribute ratios. Many of the attributes were base flavor notes necessary for this flavored snack category. A process for selecting key attributes for success was described. For this snack category, creating products with flavors that interact well with base flavor notes can lead to a successful product.

White collar crime is pervasive with a larger financial impact to society than violent or street crime, yet it has been understudied. Violent and street offender research has moved beyond the examination of motive and opportunity to study personality, demographics, sociological influences, and psychological influences on development and criminal behavior; however, the bulk of white collar offender research has focused on greed as a motivator and organizational opportunity. Legislative efforts have attempted to curtail white collar crime, but incidents of crime continue to rise, resulting in a continued need to understand white collar offenders and the influences on offender behavior. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the multivariate difference between white collar offenders (n = 62) and business professionals (n = 121). Theoretically guided by the biopsychosocial model and prior empirical findings, 36 variables were univariately tested for group differences; 10 were significant and used in discriminant function analysis. White collar offenders tended to be female, have high neuroticism and alcohol abuse scores, and have low scores on narcissism and attribution. Drug use was positively correlated with the white collar offender profile, while income, openness, hostility, and anger were inversely related. The profile and correlates provide a deeper understanding of those who choose to cross legal and ethical lines. Positive social change could be realized through targeted collegiate business training programs to address risk characteristics and promote protective factors of ethics, integrity, and leadership.

<p><strong>Sammanfattning</strong></p><p><strong>Syfte:</strong> Att få en fördjupad förståelse av hivsmittades erfarenheter av hur det är att leva med sjukdomen i Sverige.</p><p><strong>Bakgrund:</strong> Sedan mitten av 1990-talet definieras hiv som en kronisk sjukdom till följd av bromsmedicinernas utveckling. Detta betyder att de som drabbas måste lära sig att leva med sjukdomen samt hantera omvärldens reaktioner och värderingar som kan vara av diskriminerande/stigmatiserande karaktär.</p><p><strong>Design:</strong> En intervjustudie med kvalitativ ansats som utfördes under 2009.</p><p><strong>Metod:</strong> Nio hivsmittade personer intervjuades och dessa intervjuer analyserades genom att tillämpa Grounded Theory.</p><p><strong>Resultat:</strong> Resultatet synliggör hivsmittades erfarenheter av hur det är att leva med sjukdomen. Fyra kategorier framkom ur analysen; <em>En livssjukdom</em>, <em>Omgivningens förhållningssätt till sjukdomen</em>, <em>Reglerad och spontan diskriminering</em>/<em>stigmatisering</em> samt <em>Strategier vid diskriminering</em>/<em>stigmatisering. </em>Dessa kategorier<em> </em>kunde samtliga relateras till en övergripande kategori; <em>En kamp för livet</em>.</p><p><strong>Slutsats:</strong> Studien har synliggjort att livet för hivsmittade kompliceras av psykosociala faktorer, bromsmedicinernas biverkningar och av den diskriminering/stigmatisering som de erfar. Beroende på vilka copingstrategier som de tillämpar för att hantera sin livssituation, har betydelse för deras hälsa och välbefinnande.</p> / <p><strong>Abstract</strong></p><p><strong>Aim:</strong> To get a deeper understanding of HIV-infected peoples experiences on how it is to live with the illness in Sweden.</p><p><strong>Background:</strong> HIV defines as a chronicle disease since the mid-1990s due to the medical development. As a result people that get infected have to carefully manage the illness and also cope with the surrounding world’s reactions and values that can be of discriminating/stigmatised nature.</p><p><strong>Design</strong>: A qualitative interview study undertaken during 2009.</p><p><strong>Method:</strong> Nine HIV-infected people were interviewed and the interviews were analysed using Grounded Theory.</p><p><strong>Findings:</strong> The findings visualized HIV-infected people’s experiences on how it is to live with the illness. Four categories emerge from the analyses; <em>A lifeillness</em>, <em>Surrounding attitudes toward the illness</em>, <em>Regulated and spontaneous discrimination/stigmatisation</em> and <em>Strategies due to discrimination/stigmatisation</em>. These categories could all be related to one all-embracing category; <em>A struggle for life</em>.</p><p><strong>Conclusion:</strong> The study has shown that psychological factors, the side effects caused by the medications and the discrimination/stigmatisation that they experience, complicate life for HIV-infected people. Depending on what kind of coping strategies they conform to handle circumstances of their life, invariably have consequences of their health and well-being.</p>

This study surveyed floristic composition and distribution of weed vegetation in Mituo County. 206 relevés were surveyed according to relevé method. A total of 140 species belonging to 32 families of the vascular plants were recorded. The weed communities were classified with nonmetric multidimentional scaling, two-way indicator species analysis, tabular comparison method, fidelity and synoptic table analysis. Discriminate analysis was used to evaluate the distinctness of classification unitsal vegetation classification system was made using Braun-Blanquet approach of floristic-sociological classification in lower levels and physiognomic-sociological classification in higher levels. In floristic-sociological classification, assication is the basic unit, and it should be grouped into higher units (alliance) by floristic composition. The results showed 1 formation class, 2 formations in phsiogonomic units, and 4 alliances, 6 associations in floristic units: I. Lower montane-lowland weed vegetation formation A. Echinochloa colona alliance a. Echinochloa colona association b. Trianthemum portulacastrum association c. Panicum maximum association B. Dichanthium aristatum alliance d. Dichanthium aristatum association C. Eriochloa procera alliance e. Eriochloa procera association II. Sand dune vegetation formation D. Ipomoea pescaprae subsp. brasiliensis alliance f. Ipomoea pescaprae subsp. brasiliensis association

Due to the association of heart diseases and the patterns of the diastoles and systoles of heart in left ventricle, we analyze and classify the data gathered form Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital by using the cardiology ultrasound images. We make use of the differences between the gray-scale values of diastoles and systoles in left ventricle to evaluate the function of heart. Following Chen (2011) and Kao (2011), we modified the way about the reduction and alignment of the image data. We also add some more subjects into the study. We treat images in two manners, saving the parts of concern. Since the ultrasound image after transformation to data form is expressed as a high-dimensional matrix, the principal component analysis is adapted to retain the important factors and reduce the dimensions. In this work, we compare the loadings calculated by the usual principal and sparse principal component analysis, then the factor scores are used to carry out the discriminant analysis and discuss the accuracy of classification. By the statistical methods in this work, the accuracy, sensitivity and specificity of the original classifications are over 80% and the cross validations are over 60%.

In order to reduce default risk, financial institutions have been investigating into credit ratings of companies, which they want to give credit to. This research tries to give a method for financial institutions to differentiate between default and normal company with financial ratios, which is already announced in their seasonal financial reports. The samples are abstracted from security markets, and restricted to building companies. With Discriminant analysis and Logistic regression models, financial institutions can estimate what company may become into default situation and others stay in good condition. According to this research, financial ratios that can be used to discriminate between default and normal companies are: net worth ratio and short-turn borrowing/liquid asset and asset turnover and gross profit margin. It can also be described with asset turnover and gross profit margin if default risk is been estimated.

The study intended to investigate the phylogeography of mid-altitude species, Japalura brevipes, which is the endemic to Taiwan. I used mitochondrial cytochrome b sequences and morphological characters to investigate the phylogeography. The molecular results showed that there are 16 haplotypes. The length of partial cytochrome b sequences is 617 bp including 84 informative sites, and the mean genetic distance is 5.4%. In phylogenetic analyses, three major clades were found in the phylogenetic trees. Moreover, these clades (north, central-north and south) corresponded to the geographic distribution. Analysis of population genetic structure revealed significant differentiation among populations, and most of the haplotypes were restricted to the locally. The morphological analyses showed that there is no difference between sexes at 18 characters, with the exception of the axilla-groin length and dorsal-crest scales. The Principal Component Analysis and Canonical Discriminate Analysis using 16 morphological characters showed the different results. Principal Component Analysis failed to separate populations. However, Canonical Discriminate Analysis could discriminate the populations of Guanwu, Nanheng, Sihyuantkou and Wuling Farm from others. Phylogeography of J. brevipes belonged to category 1 defined by Avise (2000). I infer refuge effect and dispersal ability hypotheses to explain the genetic structure of J. brevipes.

Sammanfattning Syfte: Att få en fördjupad förståelse av hivsmittades erfarenheter av hur det är att leva med sjukdomen i Sverige. Bakgrund: Sedan mitten av 1990-talet definieras hiv som en kronisk sjukdom till följd av bromsmedicinernas utveckling. Detta betyder att de som drabbas måste lära sig att leva med sjukdomen samt hantera omvärldens reaktioner och värderingar som kan vara av diskriminerande/stigmatiserande karaktär. Design: En intervjustudie med kvalitativ ansats som utfördes under 2009. Metod: Nio hivsmittade personer intervjuades och dessa intervjuer analyserades genom att tillämpa Grounded Theory. Resultat: Resultatet synliggör hivsmittades erfarenheter av hur det är att leva med sjukdomen. Fyra kategorier framkom ur analysen; En livssjukdom, Omgivningens förhållningssätt till sjukdomen, Reglerad och spontan diskriminering/stigmatisering samt Strategier vid diskriminering/stigmatisering. Dessa kategorier kunde samtliga relateras till en övergripande kategori; En kamp för livet. Slutsats: Studien har synliggjort att livet för hivsmittade kompliceras av psykosociala faktorer, bromsmedicinernas biverkningar och av den diskriminering/stigmatisering som de erfar. Beroende på vilka copingstrategier som de tillämpar för att hantera sin livssituation, har betydelse för deras hälsa och välbefinnande. / Abstract Aim: To get a deeper understanding of HIV-infected peoples experiences on how it is to live with the illness in Sweden. Background: HIV defines as a chronicle disease since the mid-1990s due to the medical development. As a result people that get infected have to carefully manage the illness and also cope with the surrounding world’s reactions and values that can be of discriminating/stigmatised nature. Design: A qualitative interview study undertaken during 2009. Method: Nine HIV-infected people were interviewed and the interviews were analysed using Grounded Theory. Findings: The findings visualized HIV-infected people’s experiences on how it is to live with the illness. Four categories emerge from the analyses; A lifeillness, Surrounding attitudes toward the illness, Regulated and spontaneous discrimination/stigmatisation and Strategies due to discrimination/stigmatisation. These categories could all be related to one all-embracing category; A struggle for life. Conclusion: The study has shown that psychological factors, the side effects caused by the medications and the discrimination/stigmatisation that they experience, complicate life for HIV-infected people. Depending on what kind of coping strategies they conform to handle circumstances of their life, invariably have consequences of their health and well-being.

The design of a face recognition system ( FRS ) can been separated into two major modules ¡V face detection and face recognition. In the face detection part, we combine image pre-processing techniques with maximum-likelihood estimation to detect the nearest frontal face in a single image. Under limited restrictions, our detection method overcomes some of the challenging tasks, such as variability in scale, location, orientation, facial expression, occlusion ( glasses ), and lighting change. In the face recognition part, we use both Karhunen-Loeve transform and linear discrimant analysis ( LDA ) to perform feature extraction. In this feature extraction process, the features are calculated from the inner products of the original samples and the selected eigenvectors. In general, as the size of the face database is increased, the recognition time will be proportionally increased. To solve this problem, hard-limited Karhunen-Loeve transform ( HLKLT ) is applied to reduce the computation time in our FRS.