There is a lack of consensus on the empirical findings in research examining the so-called ‘guns and butter’ argument – does military expenditure crowd out social expenditure or not? Feminist scholars have been arguing that militarism, affects women’s welfare in a negative way. This study investigates whether countries' increase in military expenditure leads to a deterioration in women's health and education, based on the guns and butter argument. The study intends to find out what a possible correlation looks like for two different models, one that represents the impact on women's health and another that represents the impact on women's education, by using maternal mortality and school enrollment (with a gender parity index) as dependent variables. The survey is conducted for a sampling of countries in Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia for the period 1988 to 2020. The main findings of this study indicate that increased military expenditure leads to increased maternal mortality, however, the study finds no linear relationship between military expenditure and girls' school enrollment. The study also finds no correlation between health care, education expenditure and maternal mortality. Nevertheless, it indicates that education expenditure has a positive effect on girls’ school enrollment, and health care expenditure has a negative effect on girls’ school registration.

Ever since Ghana gained independence, its policy makers have identified education as a tool to foster economic growth and development. In recognition of the vast potential for national development that education presents Ghana, various governments have invested considerably in the sector. These investments have been in the form of educational sector reforms, as well as yearly reoccurring expenditure. Despite these massive investments however, very little work has been done to empirically investigate the impact of such expenditure on the nation’s economy. This paper uses data from Ghana to empirically assess the nature of the relationship between education expenditure (a proxy for human capital development) and GDP growth (a proxy for economic growth). The Granger Causality Test is applied to education expenditure and GDP growth data, from 2003 to 2018. Using data from this same time frame, separate Granger Causality tests are also implemented to test the relationship between Gross Enrollment Rates/ Total Completion Rates, at some levels of education, and GDP growth.   Interestingly enough, the analysis shows no Granger causal relationship between our main variables of interest (Total Education Expenditure and GDP growth). Results also show that none of the education variables Granger cause GDP growth, if the test uses 1 lag and also if the test uses 3 lags. Additionally, results show that whether the test uses 1 lag or 2 lags, GDP growth Granger causes the percentage of total government expenditure that is dedicated to education. Results for tests that use 2 lags also shows that the only education variable that Granger causes GDP growth is enrolment rate at the primary level, with GDP growth also not Granger causing any education variable apart from the percentage of government expenditure dedicated to education. In the case of the test using 3 lags, results show that GDP growth Granger causes only one education variable which is expenditure on the Senior High School level. / Ända sedan Ghana blev självständigt har dess beslutsfattare identifierat utbildning som ett verktyg för att främja ekonomisk tillväxt och utveckling. Som ett erkännande av den enorma potential för nationell utveckling som utbildning erbjuder Ghana, har olika regeringar investerat avsevärt i sektorn. Dessa investeringar har varit i form av reformer av utbildningssektorn, såväl som årliga återkommande utgifter. Trots dessa massiva investeringar har dock mycket lite arbete gjorts för att empiriskt undersöka effekterna av sådana utgifter på landets ekonomi. Denna artikel använder data från Ghana för att empiriskt bedöma karaktären av sambandet mellan utbildningsutgifter (en proxy för utveckling av mänskligt kapital) och BNP-tillväxt (en proxy för ekonomisk tillväxt). Granger Causality Test tillämpas på utbildningsutgifter och BNP-tillväxtdata, från 2003 till 2018. Med hjälp av data från samma tidsram implementeras även separata Granger Causality-tester för att testa sambandet mellan bruttoinskrivningsfrekvenser/Totala slutförandefrekvenser, på vissa nivåer utbildning och BNP-tillväxt. Intressant nog visar analysen inget Granger-kausalt samband mellan våra huvudsakliga intressevariabler (Total Education Expenditure och BNP-tillväxt). Resultat visar också att ingen av utbildningsvariablerna Granger orsakar BNP-tillväxt, om testet använder 1 tidstidsfördröjning och även om testet använder 3 tidsfördröjningar. Dessutom visar resultaten att oavsett om testet använder 1 tidstidsfördröjning eller 2 tidsfördröjningar, Granger orsakar BNP-tillväxt andelen av de totala offentliga utgifterna som är dedikerade till utbildning. Resultat för tester som använder 2 tidsfördröjningar visar också att den enda utbildningsvariabeln som Granger orsakar BNP-tillväxt är inskrivningsgraden på primärnivå, där BNP-tillväxten inte heller Granger orsakar någon utbildningsvariabel förutom procentandelen av de statliga utgifterna som är avsatta till utbildning. I fallet med testet med 3 tidsfördröjningar visar resultaten att BNP-tillväxt Granger orsakar endast en utbildningsvariabel, vilken är utgifter på gymnasienivå.

While tremendous advances have been made in prosthesis technology, a greater understanding of amputee gait is needed, especially among amputees in developing countries. Field studies as well as prosthesis technology in developing countries are limited due to barriers associated with equipment and resources availability. Furthermore, individuals with lower limb amputation experience increased difficulty walking and a higher fall rate compared to non-amputees, which may be exacerbated by environment, terrain, or prosthesis componentry. Due to the importance of walking on various terrain for increased quality of life as well as the differences between prosthesis technology available in developing and developed countries, a better understanding of amputee gait on underdeveloped outdoor terrain is needed. We began to address these needs with three studies that explored factors that influenced and predicted amputee gait on realistic end-user outdoor terrain. First, we investigated the effects of environment (i.e. indoor laboratory or outdoor natural walking path), terrain, and amputation level on energy expenditure and dynamic stability while walking among lower limb amputees and non-amputees. We found that terrain and amputation level affected amputee energy expenditure and stability while environment and specific uneven terrain type had minimal effects. These results may guide future work investigating the effects of terrain in laboratory-based studies. Second, we investigated the ability to predict quantitative measures of amputee gait on outdoor underdeveloped terrain from laboratory-based measurements. We found individual participant characteristics and easily accessible measures of indoor gait were as or more effective at predicting energy expenditure and dynamic stability than gait measures requiring greater experimental and analytical resources. These results may offer a tool for researchers to assess performance among amputees in various settings without the need for expensive and technical equipment. Third, we examined the effect of a low-cost prosthetic knee joint on amputee gait. Specifically, we investigated the effects of on energy expenditure, gait stability, and perceptions of the low-cost prosthetic knee joint while walking on indoor and outdoor terrains. We found evidence that the low-cost knee increased energy expenditure and increased some characteristics of dynamic stability while decreased others. Furthermore, we also identified key insights among amputees about the performance of the low-cost prosthetic knee joint that could aid in future design modifications of the knee. Together, these studies help to clarify differences in walking performance between laboratory and outdoor terrains among lower limb amputees, help circumvent the challenges of obtaining quantitative gait measures during field studies in developing countries and may help guide the future design and use of low-cost prosthetic knee technology. / Doctor of Philosophy / While tremendous advances have been made in prosthesis technology, a greater understanding of how lower limb amputees walk (i.e. amputee gait) is needed, especially among amputees in developing countries. Studies in the field as well as the devices that amputees where to walk (prosthesis technology) in developing countries are limited due to barriers associated with equipment and resources availability. Furthermore, individuals with lower limb amputation experience increased difficulty walking and a higher fall rates compared to non-amputees, which may be exacerbated by environment, terrain, or components of the prosthesis. Due to the importance of walking on various terrain for increased quality of life as well as the differences between prosthesis technology available in developing and developed countries, a better understanding of how amputees walk on uneven outdoor terrain is needed. We began to address these needs with three studies that explored factors that influenced and predicted how amputees walk on realistic end-user outdoor terrain. First, we investigated the effects of environment (i.e. indoor laboratory or outdoor natural walking path), terrain, and amputation level on energy expenditure and walking stability among lower limb amputees and non-amputees. We found that terrain and amputation level affected amputee energy expenditure and stability while environment and specific uneven terrain type had minimal effects. These results may guide future work investigating the effects of terrain in laboratory-based studies. Second, we investigated whether we could predict amputee walking performance on outdoor underdeveloped terrain from laboratory-based measurements. We found individual participant characteristics and easily accessible performance measures were as or more effective at predicting energy expenditure and stability than performance measures requiring greater experimental and analytical resources. These results may offer a tool for researchers to assess performance among amputees in various settings without the need for expensive and technical equipment. Third, we examined the effect of a low-cost prosthetic knee joint on amputee gait. Specifically, we investigated the effects of on energy expenditure, gait stability, and perceptions of the low-cost prosthetic knee joint while walking on indoor and outdoor terrains. We found evidence that the low-cost knee increased energy expenditure and increased some characteristics of stability while decreased others. Furthermore, we also identified key insights among amputees about the performance of the low-cost prosthetic knee joint that could aid in future design modifications of the knee. Together, these studies help to clarify differences in walking performance between laboratory and outdoor terrains among lower limb amputees, help circumvent the challenges of obtaining quantitative gait measures during field studies in developing countries and may help guide the future design and use of low-cost prosthetic knee technology.

Accelerometers are objective monitors of physical activity (PA) that can be used to estimate energy expenditure (EE). Most accelerometer EE estimation equations are based on steady-state data and do not consider excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC) after exercise. PURPOSE: To quantify the error in accelerometer EE estimates due to EPOC after varying durations of high-intensity treadmill running. METHODS: Nine young, healthy, recreationally active males participated in three study visits. Visit 1 included a treadmill VO2 peak test to determine the treadmill speed correlating to 80% VO2 peak for visits 2 and 3. Visit 2 included a seated 20-min baseline and three short (30s, 60s, 120s) vigorous treadmill running bouts each followed by 20 minutes of seated rest. Visit 3 included a supine 60-min baseline and a 30-min treadmill running bout followed by 3 hours of supine rest. Twelve EE estimation equations each using either a non-dominant wrist or right hip ActiGraph GT3X+ accelerometer were compared to the true EE measured by the Parvomedics TrueOne 2400 indirect calorimeter. RESULTS: The Freedson 1998 EE estimation equation overestimated EE during the 20min post-exercise period after each exercise bout (mean kCals [95% CIs]; 30s: 19.3 [11.4, 27.2], 60s: 16.6 [8.5, 24.7], 120s: 13.4 [5.74, 21.1], 30min: 15.1 [6.69, 23.5]). The Crouter 2009 branching algorithm underestimated EE during the 20min post-exercise period after each exercise bout (mean kCals [95% CIs]; 30s: -8.59 [-10.6, -6.62], 60s: -11.6 [-13.7, -9.38], 120s: -15.0 [-18.1, -11.8], 30min: -11.0 [-14.3, -7.77]), but was partially corrected by adding in the measured EPOC. CONCLUSION: Estimated EE during lying or seated rest from linear accelerometer equations was heavily dependent on the y-intercept of the equation, which represents the estimated resting EE of the wearer, with the Crouter calibration study being the only one to directly measure resting EE. More sophisticated approaches, like the Crouter 2009 and newer machine learning algorithms, have better potential to more accurately estimate EE across various activity types. New accelerometer EE estimations should include resting in their calibration protocols in order to more accurately estimate EE during rest.

In 2001, The Institute of Medicine published its recommendations for bringing high quality care to all people of the United Sates. That solution involved fulfilling criteria expressed in the acronym, STEEEP. Care must be: Safe, Timely, Effective, Efficient, Equitable and Patient Centered (Institute of Medicine 2001). While improvements were made in terms of infant mortality, longevity, and deaths amenable to quality care, healthcare in the United States has remained fragmented with much work yet to be done. This leaves many uninsured individuals without access to affordable healthcare. Despite the implementation of policies such as the Affordable Care Act and the American Rescue Plan, which have expanded Medicaid and given access to many, it still falls short. Approximately 24.9 million people remain uninsured. The rising costs of healthcare in the U.S. have led to both insured and uninsured patients being exposed to medical debt, lower health status, and limited access to care. Safety net clinics, such as free clinics, have become essential for many uninsured individuals who rely on them to receive medical care. Free clinics are an example of safety nets that give medical access to the uninsured. These clinics have positive results on health outcomes and help to lower healthcare expenditures, particularly in emergency room visits. Studies have shown that uninsured individuals are more likely to use emergency services, which results in higher healthcare costs. Free clinics provide preventative care and early interventions that can help prevent costly emergency visits and hospitalizations. Moreover, free clinics serve as a place for volunteers to grow their skills and become better providers of medicine. Volunteers include physicians, nurses, medical students, and other healthcare professionals who dedicate their time and expertise to help those in need. Volunteers at free clinics are provided with a unique opportunity to enhance their skills by working with a diverse patient population that often has complex medical conditions. Free clinics are essential safety nets that provide medical access to the uninsured and underserved communities. Without these clinics, many uninsured individuals would be left without access to care, leading to poor health outcomes and higher healthcare costs. The importance of free clinics cannot be overstated, and unless there is a change in the current healthcare system, free clinics should be given the place they deserve, including more volunteer and funding support. As the U.S. healthcare system continues to evolve, it is critical to recognize the value of free clinics and the role they play in ensuring access to care for all individuals, regardless of their insurance status.

Nowadays, organisations consider cyber security risk as one of the critical risks at organisations. Due to the increase of cyber-related attacks and more advanced technologies, organisations are forced to implement the proper cyber risk management and find the optimality of security expenditure distribution for treating those risks. About twenty years ago, cyber insurance has been introduced as one of the risk treatment methods backing up the security controls. The concept is further benefiting both organisations and the market, where the insurers globally expect 20$ billion in 2025 [1]. On the other hand, cyber insurance has been dealing with several hurdles on the way to maturing. One of the problematic challenges is the relation between cyber insurance and security investments (or controls). Several papers theoretically devoted the analyses on this issue where some highlighted that cyber insurance could be an incentive for security investments while others claim may lead to the fall of investments for self-protection. Since everything lies in a densely interconnected and risk-prone cyber environment, there are various factors on the relation, which effects should be thoroughly investigated. The overall goal of the thesis is to analyse the problems lying in the risk treatment phase and propose an applicable solution to deal with. In particular, we would like to take into account the following factors to address the relation between cyber insurance and security investments. We first analyse different market models to study possible ways to keep both cyber insurance and security investments in both competitive and non-competitive insurance markets. Some studies showed that security investments fall in the non-competitive insurance market. In this regard, we would like to investigate the possibility of raising the security investments by optimising the loading factor, an additional amount of fee for the premium. In practice, organisations do not face a single threat but multiple threats during a certain period. To the best of our knowledge, there is not a study considering multiple threats in the cyber insurance field to analyse how security investments can be varied. Thus, we investigate the multiple threats case in a competitive cyber insurance market and find how security expenditure can be efficiently distributed between the insurance premium and security investments/controls. The analysis allows us to map security controls and cyber insurance cost-effectively. We provide both theoretical and algorithmic solutions to deal with the problem and validate the solutions in both artificial and practical cases. For a practical scenario, we develop a questionnaire-based risk assessment tool to feed our risk treatment solution with necessary empirical data. In both insurance markets, a degree of security interdependence is a unique peculiarity that affects the behaviour of organisations to invest in their self-protection and have cyber insurance. We theoretically analyse the effect of security interdependence in both market models and show whether it affects positively or negatively.

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