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This thesis investigates several theoretical and practical problems in index numbers. In Chapter 2 a hedonic elementary price index for accessing the Internet in Canada is constructed. We find that the quality-adjusted price index declines at about 15% per year. Detailed data are readily available on-line. We discuss the use of different functional forms in the regression, their ease of use and performance, and compare the result with the matched model approach. Problems in using the Box-Cox transformation and in handling packages with unlimited access are also discussed. Chapter 3 studies the problems associated with the treatment of seasonal commodities in a consumer price index. Economic assumptions behind various commonly used methods are examined from the cost-of-living perspective. A new theoretical justification based on the theory of preference change is provided for the maximum overlap method. Empirical studies using a particular data set show that indices based on various approaches give substantially different results. Direct measurement techniques have recently been employed by some statistical agencies for government output components in the SNA. These methods use proxies and indicators for outputs due to the inherent lack of market valuations. Chapter 4 investigates the pros and cons of these new approaches and compares them with the traditional cost method. This leads us to take a deeper look at the purposes, objectives, and uses of the SNA. The current method can be justified from a collective household point of view, but the lack of direct output data frustrates students of productivity analysis. By taking the economic approach in index number theory, some direct measurement methods can be compatible with the cost-of-living approach in the CPI. Using implicit expected utility theory, a money metric for utility derived from playing a lottery game is developed in Chapter 5. Using a kinked parametric functional form, outputs of the Canadian Lotto 6/49 are estimated. Results show that this direct economic approach yields an average output three times that of the official GDP. The estimated price elasticity of demand -0.67 closely resembles results for the U.K. in previous studies. / Arts, Faculty of / Vancouver School of Economics / Graduate

Die Angaben zu den Autoren im Verzeichnis wurden von den Autoren ohne Formatvorgaben selbst bereitgestellt und können sich deswegen in Struktur und Ausführlichkeit unterscheiden. Aus der redaktionellen Bearbeitung resultieren teilweise Umstrukturierungen und Umfangsbegrenzungen.

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Medicine in the field of Biokinetics. 21 June 2018 / Introduction: The purpose of this study was to describe the Endurance Index of automotive workers to determine aerobic capacity to sustain an 8 hour shift. The Endurance Index is the product of Work (in Joules) performed by muscles divided by Peak Heart Rate (in beats per minute). Since there is no clear method for determining full work tolerance (8 hour sustenance) for job specific endurance activities, a new scientific method is warranted. Methods: This was a retrospective study and 44 jobs were randomly selected. In those jobs there was a sample of 101 automotive workers (n = 94 males and n = 6 females). From the 44 jobs, there were 220 endurance activities/tests and peak heart rates and total work performed by muscles was described then these variables were used to calculate Endurance Index which was described for each endurance activity. Results: Peak HR had a mean of 139.85 ±20.96 (100 – 184bpm), total work had a mean of 9224.73 ±5826.04 (897.20 – 33 055) and EI had a mean of 67.14 ±42.88 (8 – 243.10). Total work and EI had significant (p < 0.00) and good positive correlation (r = 0.97). Peak HR and EI had significant (p < 0.01) and poor negative correlation (r = -0.18). Conclusion: The scientific rationale for using Endurance Index as an indicator for aerobic capacity is that the better conditioned an individual the more work that can be produced at lower relative heart rates compared to individuals who are poorly conditioned. So the more the work value and the lower the heart rate value, the better the index. In this study it was found that Endurance index is a good indicator of aerobic capacity since a positive correlation was found between total work and Endurance index and a negative correlation was found between peak heart rate during an endurance activity and Endurance Index. / MT 2019

<p> One of the two basic philosophies underlying adaptive control is that the transfer function of the plant must be first determined and then the values of an adjustable controller varied for optimizing a given index of performance. The process of identifying the plant characteristics is popularly known as Identification Problem and constitutes a major problem in the realization of an adaptive system of this type.</p> <p> The other philosophy is that a complete knowledge of the plant is not necessary for the optimum adjustments of the parameter of control. The system is caused to measure its own performance against a figure of merit and drives its performance towards optimum. This approach is becoming popular because of the many difficulties associated with the identification problem and a number of "hill climbing" techniques have been proposed based on this philosophy.</p> <p> In this thesis, three such techniques (steepest descent, conjugate gradients and parallel tangents) have been analysed with a view to determine the most efficient and quickest way to determine the parameters of a controller for optimum performance.</p> / Thesis / Master of Engineering (MEngr)

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Plant Microfossil have been extracted from separate thin layers of a sample of rock from the York River formation of the Gaspe region. These have been illustrated and described. An index plant microfossil assemblage for that particular facies has been illustrated. / Thesis / Master of Science (MS)

OBJECTIVES: In older age, body composition changes as fat mass increases and redistributes. Due to this, the current body mass index (BMI) classification proposed by the World Health Organization (WHO) may not accurately classify older adults (65+) by health risk. The objectives of thesis were to: 1) conduct a scoping review of the literature to investigate the association between BMI and mortality in older adults, 2) define age-specific BMI cut-offs for older adults with regards to health outcomes using data from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA), and 3) test the performance of the age-specific BMI thresholds in comparison to WHO thresholds. METHODS: The Ovid MEDLINE and EMBASE databases were searched for English language observational studies examining the association between BMI and all-cause mortality in older adults (objective 1). CART decision tree analysis was then used to define age-appropriate BMI cut-points in relation to health outcomes (i.e. cardiovascular (CV) conditions and frailty) (objective 2). Logistic regression models were utilized to determine the association between BMI and health outcomes, and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) and sensitivity/specificity were used to test the performance of new BMI cut-offs (objective 3). RESULTS: The scoping review found that older adults classified as overweight had reduced mortality compared to normal BMI, thereby necessitating a need for revised cut-offs. In our analyses, age-specific cardiovascular- and frailty-BMI groups were created. Compared to the BMIFrailty- Risk groups, the BMI-CV-Risk groups demonstrated the most improvement in classification from the WHO groups. When evaluating the association between cut-points and outcomes, the model performance and specificity both improved for the new age-specific cut-points compared to the original WHO thresholds, suggesting improved classification with use of these revised groups. The results propose increased overweight thresholds (25.9-27.1) and lowered obese thresholds (28.7-30.9) for older adults. CONCLUSIONS: This novel analysis is the first attempt at revising the WHO-BMI thresholds for older Canadian adults. The age-specific BMI-CV-Risk groups offered improvements in classification of older adults from the WHO-BMI groups, and these findings suggest that a higher overweight but lowered obese thresholds may be best suited to older adults. Further work must be done to validate these thresholds in other populations and ethnicities, as well as in the context of other health outcomes. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)