This thesis deals with questions which are related to the creation of case studies for statistical data analysis using applied computer technology. The main aim is focused on showing the solution of statistical case studies in the field of electrical engineering. Solved case studies include task, exemplary solution and conclusion. Clarity of explained theory and the results understanding and interpretation is accentuated. This thesis can be used for practical education of applied statistical methods, it’s also supplemented with commented outputs from Minitab. Trial version of Minitab has been used for solution of case studies.

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The purpose of the present study was to develop further a semistructured nonverbal projective test to measure juvenile delinquency proneness. The goal in developing this test was to have a measure which would be free of the many limitations found in existing tests and scales of this nature.

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate day-of-the-week effects for stock index returns. The investigations include analysis of means and variances as well as return-distribution properties such as skewness and tail behavior. Moreover, the existences of conditional day-of-the-week effects, depending on the outcome of returns from the previous week, are analyzed. Particular emphasis is put on determining useful testing procedures for differences in variance in return data from different weekdays. Two time series models, AR and GARCH(1,1), are used to find out if any weekday's mean return is different from other days. The investigations are repeated for two-day re- turns and for returns of diversified portfolios made up of several stock index returns.

Teachers in a New Jersey suburban high school noticed an increase in students' stress and anxiety associated with high-stakes testing, and they were struggling to find strategies and interventions to help. The purpose of this study was to investigate high school English and mathematics teachers' current knowledge, experiences, and perceptions about students' preparation and responses to high-stakes testing and to explore teachers' perceptions about teaching strategies they needed to reduce student test anxiety. Liebert and Morris's bidimensional components of anxiety, emotionality, and worry form the conceptual framework that guided this study. The research questions focused on teachers' perceptions about students' high-stakes testing readiness, students' testing behaviors, and teachers' training needs. A case study design was used to capture the insights of 12 high school English and math teachers through semistructured interviews and a focus group interview; a purposeful sampling process was used to select the participants. Emergent themes were identified through open coding, and the findings were developed and checked for trustworthiness through member checking, rich descriptions, and researcher reflexivity. The findings revealed that teachers recognize that students react in different ways to testing, that students who are prepared for the tests demonstrate greater confidence and less anxiety, and that teachers want more professional development specific to reducing students' anxiety and stress. A professional development project was created to provide teachers with strategies and approaches to prepare students for high-stress testing situations. This study has implications for positive social change by creating a structure to provide teachers with strategies for managing students' test anxiety.

This study had two major objectives; firstly to test the hypothesis of ongoing competition for seeds between small rodents and harvester ants, Pogonomyrmex occidental is, in a cold desert ecosystem; secondly to elucidate how seed abundance and shrub cover influence the distribution and abundance of deer mice, Peromyscus maniculatus. The study area was a sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) dominated shrubsteppe in southwestern Wyoming. Responses of the small mammal community to ant removal and food addition were assessed on replicated study plots between September 1981 and September 1983. Food addition and shrub removal manipulations were continued from September 1983 to August 1984. Rodent populations were sampled by live-trapping. Movements of 40 deermice were followed by radiotracking during the winter, spring and summer of 1983-84. Ant removal elicited little response from the rodent community, although seed preference trials with native seeds in the field indicated considerable overlap in seed use. concluded that competition was not a factor affecting small rodents during the period of this study, although the area cleared of ants may not have been sufficiently large to produce a response detectable by trapping. Seed addition resulted in increased deermouse population size, prolonged breeding, decreased winter (but not summer) home range sizes, and during periods of low density, increased grid fidelity. High fall densities were followed by a classical spring decline with associated female sex ratio skew and severe injuries to both sexes. Concluded that deermice were food limited only to the point where social interactions during the breeding season limited maximum densities. The absence of shrubs prevented winter use of the 1.25 ha cleared area by deermice. At this time on the non-cleared plots shrubs were used to support nests, as foraging sites and as a means of access to the snow surface. During summer the area cleared of shrubs provided attractive foraging habitat, but most nest sites were still located within shrub cover around the edge. An important corollary of the radio tracking was the illustration of the large home range sizes of deermice in relation to the size of the 0.7 ha trapping grids. The implications of trapping bias affecting population fluctuations and measurement of other demographic parameters from trapping studies are discussed.

Die Degeneration des Gelenkknorpels ist Hauptursache für chronische Schmerzen und eine dadurch bedingte Einschränkung der Lebensqualität. Für die Sozialversicherungssysteme ist dies mit steigenden Kosten verbunden. Gegenwärtige Behandlungsoptionen wie die Mikrofrakturierung oder die (matrix-assoziierte) Autologe Chondrozytentransplantation (M-) ACT führen zu einem minderwertigen Reparaturgewebe aus Faserknorpel mit unzureichenden mechanischen Eigenschaften an der Defektstelle. Es besteht ein Bedarf an der Entwicklung und Testung neuer Knorpeltherapien, die ein funktionelles Reparaturgewebe für nachhaltige Beschwerdefreiheit erzeugen. Das hier verwendete kürzlich etablierte osteochondrale Ex vivo-Testsystem (EVTS) eignet sich zur Evaluation unterschiedlicher zellbasierter Behandlungsansätze für die Knorpelregeneration. Aus der medialen Femurkondyle von Schweinen wurden zylindrische 8 mm große osteochondrale Explantate (OCE) isoliert. Es wurden Knorpel-Knochendefekte und reine Knorpeldefekte kreiert und mit autologen Schweine-Chondrozyten (CZ) bzw. einer Mischung aus CZ und mesenchymalen Stammzellen (MSC) gefüllt, die in Kollagen Typ I Hydrogel eingebettet waren. Nach vierwöchiger Kultivierung wurden die Proben histologisch und immunhistochemisch gefärbt (Safranin-O-Färbung, Kollagen Typ II, Aggrekan), die Zellvitalität (Lebend-Tot-Färbung) überprüft und die extrazelluläre Matrixproduktion analysiert. Nach vierwöchiger Kultur im EVTS in Normoxie und Hypoxie zeigten sich die in Kollagen-I-Hydrogel eingebetteten Zellen lebensfähig. Die Auswertung der verschiedenen Ansätze erfolgte über den standardisierten ICRS-II-Score der International Cartilage Repair Society (ICRS) mit drei unabhängigen Bewertern. Insgesamt resultierten bessere Ergebnisse im Hinblick auf die Matrixsynthese in den Monokulturen aus CZ im Vergleich zu den Co-Kulturen aus CZ und MSCs. Da dieser Unterschied nicht groß war, könnten MSCs zur Einsparung autologer CZ eine Alternative in der Behandlung von Knorpeldefekten darstellen. Hypoxie spielte eine Rolle bei reinen Knorpeldefekten, nicht bei Knorpel-Knochendefekten. Dies bestätigt die Bedeutung des physiologischen hypoxischen Milieus des Gelenkknorpels, das einen niedrigen Sauerstoffgehalt von 2-5 VII % aufweist. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die unterschiedlichen Faktoren aus Zellkombination, Knorpeldefektgröße und Kultivierung in Hypoxie oder Normoxie Einfluss auf die Ausbildung der extrazellulären Matrix haben. Weiterhin fehlt jedoch das Verständnis für die genauen Mechanismen des Knorpelregenerationsverhaltens. Ex vivo-Testsysteme können dabei helfen ein weiteres Verständnis zu erlangen und entsprechende Behandlungsstrategien zu evaluieren. / Degeneration of articular cartilage is a major cause of chronic pain - impairing the quality of life and rising health care costs. Current treatment options like microfracture, ACT or MACT result in fibrocartilaginous repair tissue with insufficient mechanical properties at the defect site. Hence, new cartilage therapies generating functional repair tissue need to be developed and tested. Here we used a recently established ex vivo osteochondral model to evaluate the therapeutic potential of several cell-based cartilage regeneration approaches. Reproducible cylindrical 8 mm osteochondral explants (OCE) were isolated from porcine medial condyles. Full-thickness and cartilage-only defects were created and filled with autologous porcine chondrocytes respectively a mixture of chondrocytes and mesenchymal stem cells, embedded in collagen type I hydrogel. After static culture for four weeks, samples were analyzed for cell viability (live/dead staining) and extracellular matrix production, using immunohistochemical staining (Safranin-O-staining, collagen type II, aggrecan). Embedded cells remain viable after four weeks culture in ex vivo osteochondral model. Outcome of different cartilage regeneration approaches were compared using the recommended guidelines proposed by the International Cartilage Repair Society (ICRS) and ICRS-II-score with three independent evaluators. Overall, the monocultures from CZ performed better than the co-cultures from CZ and MSCs. Since this difference was not large, MSCs could be an alternative in the treatment of cartilage defects to save autologous CZ. Hypoxia played a role in pure cartilage defects, but not in cartilage-bone defects. This confirms the importance of the physiological hypoxic milieu of the articular cartilage, which has a low oxygen content of 2-5 %. The results show that the different factors from cell combination, cartilage defect size and cultivation in hypoxia or normoxia influence the formation of the extracellular matrix. However, there is still no understanding of the exact mechanisms of cartilage regeneration behavior. Ex vivo test systems can help to gain further understanding and to evaluate appropriate treatment strategies.

No description available.

Wits School of Public Health May 2015 / Background and objectives: Cervical cancer is a major cause of cancer-related deaths in many developing countries yet it is a preventable and treatable in early disease. Recent research has seen increasing morbidity and mortality due to cancer of the cervix attributed to the advent of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) epidemic worldwide. Papanicolaou smears (Pap smears) to detect cervical abnormalities are currently the best known form of early detection and prevention of invasive cervical cancer (ICC). Knowledge and awareness about cervical cancer and associated risk factors, and cervical screening is very important in determining appropriate health seeking behaviours with the aim to reduce morbidity and mortality. This study examines awareness, perceived risk and practices related to cervical cancer screening among HIV-positive women in an urban HIV clinic in Johannesburg, South Africa. This will be useful in making recommendations with regards to designing and planning of screening programmes, and addressing cervical cancer education and awareness. Materials and methods: This study analysed secondary data collected from an ongoing cervical cancer study undertaken by Right to Care in partnership with the Clinical HIV Research Unit (CHRU) among HIV-positive adult (18 years and older), female patients enrolled in the Themba Lethu Clinic HIV care and treatment programme in Johannesburg, South Africa from November 2009 to December 2012. Clinical data for all respondents was extracted from TherapyEdge-HIVTM, the electronic medical database system used for patient management at the facility. Descriptive statistics were used to summarise baseline characteristics. Models using logistic regression were developed to estimate odds ratios (OR) to further identify baseline sociodemographic factors and clinical characteristics associated with behaviours studied (awareness, perceived risk and practice related to cervical cancer and Pap smear testing) and to identify the association between these factors and the prevalence and severity of cervical disease. Awareness of the Pap smear test and the human papillomavirus (HPV) was assessed based on whether the women report knowing what a Pap smear test is, and whether they have ever heard about HPV. Perceived risk about getting cervical cancer was assessed based on how worried the study participants were about getting cervical cancer. Previous Pap screening practice was assessed using reported screening history of the study participants. In addition to this, a subanalysis was conducted to see how these responses compare to 1) the recommended practice according to the South African national cervical cancer screening guidelines based on the age of participants, and 2) the latest HIV treatment guidelines based on year of HIV diagnosis. Analysis of attrition of study participants at 12 months of study participation was conducted using different time to event analysis techniques including Kaplan Meier, Log-rank test and Cox proportional hazards model. Cox proportional hazards models were fitted to investigate associations between baseline covariate and attrition. A sub-analysis was also carried out using descriptive statistics and chi-square tests to compare the cohort of patients that were included in the study (the VICAR1 cohort) and the rest of the larger Themba Lethu Clinic (TLC) population that was not included in the study to see if there were any significant differences noted between the two groups. In addition, a sensitivity analysis of the of 12 month follow up study visit was conducted using descriptive statistics and chi-square tests to determine if there were any significant differences between study participants that came for their 12 month study visit and those that did not come for their 12 month study visit. Results: Eight hundred and fifty seven (71.30%) participants reported to be aware of Pap smear screening, with only 18.15% reporting to be aware of HPV. Of the 1192 participant who had data to ascertain perceived risk regarding cervical cancer disease, 662 (55.54%) of the women were very worried, 250 (20.97%) were somewhat worried, 280 (23.49%) were not worried about getting cervical cancer. A total of 381 (36.46%) women had adequate practice according to the national cervical cancer screening guidelines. While 304 (28.57%) had adequate practice according to the national HIV treatment guidelines. Factors associated with Pap smear screening awareness were being in the 50+ age group (aOR=4.70, 95% CI 1.63-13.55) as compared to the 18-29 age group, being of non-South African nationality (aOR=0.41, 95% CI 0.20-0.83), having a grade 10 to matric level education (aOR=2.12, 95%CI 1.28-3.52), and a tertiary level education (aOR=2.62, 95%CI 1.07-6.41) as compared to having a less than a grade 10 level education. None of the factors assessed were found to be significantly associated with awareness regarding HPV. Factors associated with perceived risk regarding cervical cancer disease were having a tertiary education (aOR=3.74, 95%CI 1.13-12.38) as compared to having less than a grade 10 level, taking snuff (aOR=0.55, 95%CI 0.33-0.92) and drinking alcohol (aOR=2.53, 95% CI 1.24- 5.17). Being in the 30-39 age group (aOR=12.23, 95%CI 4.00-37.35) as compared to being in 18-29 age group, cohabiting with a partner (aOR=0.36, 95%CI 0.17-0.75) as compared to being single, being self-employed (aOR=2.95, 95%CI 0.82-10.66) as compared to those in full time employment, and being initiated on highly active antiretroviral therapy (aOR=0.17, 95%CI 0.06-0.55) were associated with Pap smear screening practices according to the national cervical cancer guidelines. None of the factors proved to be significantly associated with the practice according to the national HIV treatment guidelines, this is mainly because the HIV treatment guidelines have stricter screening requirements for HIV positive women. Those that had a moderate to severe baseline study Pap smear at enrolment into the study were 92% less likely to have disease progression at their 12 month Pap smear screening (aOR=0.08, 95%CI 0.05-0.13) compared to those that had a negative baseline Pap smear at study enrolment. This is mostly because they would have had a treatment intervention based on their baseline study Pap screening result therefore they would mostly likely not have disease progression at a follow up screening. Only seven women enrolled in the study died of non-cervical cancer related causes during the study period. In the analysis on all-cause attrition (deceased or lost to follow up) those that are initiated on highly active antiretroviral therapy were 92% less likely to be deceased or lost to follow up than those that were not initiated on highly active antiretroviral therapy (aOR=0.08, 95% CI 0.05-0.13). The global test for the overall model showed that the proportional hazard assumption had not been violated, p=0.684. Conclusions: Results for our study showed high levels of Pap smear screening awareness amongst the study participants. However, low levels of Pap screening uptake was observed for study participants. These results and results shown in previous studies show that awareness is only the first hurdle in the challenges related to cervical cancer prevention and treatment. Adequate practice is the factor that will have the most positive influence on the disease morbidity and mortality. Rates of screening practices have been found to be worse in populations with less than 70% Pap smear screening awareness. Findings from this study and similar findings from other studies highlight that more research needs to be done into effective health education programmes to address the gaps in adequate screening practice. These efforts should not only target the clients but also the health providers as they also have an important role to play in improving awareness, knowledge and practices related to cervical cancer and Pap smear screening amongst their clients.

Snehal Udar, for the Doctor of Philosophy degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering, presented on May 4, of 2011, at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. TITLE: BUILT-IN SCHEMES FOR TEST PATTERN GENERATION AND FAULT LOCATION MAJOR PROFESSOR: Dr. D. Kagaris In this dissertation, we studied the areas of test pattern generation and fault location for detecting and diagnosing the faults in today's complex chips. In the first problem, a novel reseeding based test pattern generation scheme is analyzed by proposing a hardware efficient technique that uses irreducible polynomial-primitive element pair to generate distinct subsequences of test patterns. It is shown that for the given characteristic polynomial the hardware cost remains the same irrespective of the number of seeds required to generate the test sequence of given length. This scheme is targeted at generating pseudo-random test patterns that detect easy-to-detect faults. A counter based reseeding scheme is further analyzed that embeds a given set of fully specified test patterns in minimum number of clock cycles. Second problem investigates the effectiveness of inserting observation points on the circuit lines that along with primary output lines distinguish a given set of faults. Three hardware based approaches are proposed that aim at inserting minimum observation points, and are compared with each other for different diagnostic resolutions.