Objective. To determine if the new 2016 version of the North American Pharmacy Licensure Examination (NAPLEX) affected scores when controlling for student performance on other measures using data from one institution. Methods. There were 201 records from the classes of 2014-2016. Doubly robust estimation using weighted propensity scores was used to compare NAPLEX scaled scores and pass rates while considering student performance on other measures. Of the potential controllers of student performance: Pharmacy Curricular Outcomes Assessment (PCOA), scaled composite scores from the Pharmacy College Admission Test (PCAT), and P3 Grade Point Average (GPA). Only PCOA and P3 GPA were found to be appropriate for propensity scoring. Results. The weighted NAPLEX scaled scores did not significantly drop from the old (2014-2015) to the new (2016) version of NAPLEX. The change in pass rates between the new and old versions of NAPLEX were also non-significant. Conclusion. Using data from one institution, the new version itself of the NAPLEX did not have a significant effect on NAPLEX scores or first-time pass rates when controlling for student performance on other measures. Colleges are encouraged to repeat this analysis with pooled data and larger sample sizes.

The Snoqualmie pass area lies about 50 mi (80 km) east of Seattle, Washington, along the crest of the Cascade Range. Five stratified units, forming a composite section over 22,000 ft (6700 m) thick, are recognized in the area. They were deformed and later intruded by granodiorite and quartz monzonite porphyry of the Snoqualmie batholith (middle Miocene). The oldest unit, the Denny Formation (Permian), 7000 ft (2100 m) thick, consists of interstratified basalt, andesite and dacite volcanic rocks and limestone and chert beds. This formation is unconformably overlain by a thick conformable sequence of early Tertiary strata which are subdivided, from oldest to youngest, into the Guye Formation, Mount Catherine Tuff, and Naches Formations (Paleocene to early Oligocene). The Guye Formation, 6500 ft (1980 m) thick, consists of carbonaceous mudstone, quartzofeldspathic siltstone and sandstone, and chert conglomerate. The Mount Catherine Tuff, 900 ft (274 m) thick, consists of interstratified dacitic and rhyolitic crystal-vitric welded tuff. The Naches Formation, more than 6000 ft (1830 m) thick, is composed of carbonaceous mudstone and quartzofeldspathic siltstone and sandstone with interstratified andesitic lava and pyroclastic rock. The Denny Mountain Formation, informally named, 1800 ft (550 m) thick,(Oligocene or early Miocene) overlies the Guye Formation along a major angular unconformity. This unit consists of interstratified dacitic and andesitic tuff, volcanic breccia, and intercalated andesitic lava. The rocks of all stratified formations except the Denny Mountain Formation were deformed at different times before emplacement of the Snoqualmie batholith. During batholithic emplacement, four stages of deformation are recognized: (1) development of an anticline in the Guye, Mount Catherine Tuff, and Naches Formations, (2) break-up of this anticline and downfaulting of limbs with displacements up to 2 mi (3.2 km), (3) uplift of blocks of the Denny Formation and juxtaposition of these with younger formational units, and (4) uplift of additional blocks of the Denny Formation along trends that cut obliquely across stratigraphic contacts and previous structural trends. Intrusion of the Snoqualmie granodiorite and quartz monzonite porphyry into limestone beds of the Denny Formation has formed local deposits of skarn containing principally magnetite and lesser amounts of chalcopyrite.

The subject of the thesis is to elaborate the search study of the southeastern two-line bypass of the town of Kromeriz in the road section II/432 to the road I/47. The goal of the proposed bypass is both to demonstrate the technical option of its guidance in the specified area and to reserve a space which can be incorporated into the ground plan of Kromeriz. The bypassed communication will especially in the prospective state lead away the transit traffic from the town center of Kromeriz.

High-pass filtering has been shown to be a promising method for edge detection in optical scanning holography. By using a circular function as a pupil for the system, the radius of the circle can be varied to block out different ranges of frequencies. Implementing this system in simulation yields an interesting result, however. As the radius increases, a singular edge can split off into two edges instead. To understand the specific conditions under which this split occurs, Airy pattern filtering and single-sided filtering were implemented to analyze the results from the original high-pass simulation. These methods were tested with different input objects to assess any common patterns. Ultimately, no definitive answer was found, as Airy pattern filtering resulted in inconsistent results across different input objects, and single-sided filtering does not completely isolate the edge. Nonetheless, the documented results may aid a future understanding of this phenomenon. / Master of Science / Holograms are three-dimensional recordings of an object, reminiscent of how a photograph records a two-dimensional image of an object. Detecting edges in images and the reconstructed images from holograms can help us identify objects within the recorded image or hologram. In computer vision, common edge detection techniques involve analyzing the image's spatial frequency, or changes in relative intensity over space. One such technique is high-pass filtering, in which lower spatial frequencies are blocked out. High-pass filtering can also be applied to holographic imaging systems. However, when applying high-pass filtering to a holographic system, detected edges can split into two as higher frequencies are filtered out. This thesis examines the conditions for why this split-edge phenomenon occurs by modifying the original recorded object and the filtering mechanism, then analyzing the resultant holograms. While the results did not give a conclusive answer, they have been documented for the purpose of further research.

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No / In this paper, a compact microstrip band-pass filter (BPF) covering the 3.4 to 3.8 GHz spectrum bandwidth for 5G wireless communications is presented. The planar filter uses three resonators, each terminated by a via to hole ground at one end and a capacitor at the other end with 50 Ω transmission line impedances for input and output terminals. The coupling between the lines is adjusted to resonate at the centre frequency with third-order band-pass Butterworth properties. The proposed combline filter is designed on an alumina substrate with a relative dielectric constant of 9.8 and a very small size of 9×5×1.2 mm3. The proposed filter is simulated and optimized using CST microwave studio software. / European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement H2020-MSCA-ITN-2016 SECRET-722424, UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) under grant EP/E022936/1

The law of one price (LOP) plays an important role as a building block in theories of international trade and exchange rate determination. It also serves as a measure of integration for international commodity markets. The LOP states that in competitive markets after adjustment for transportation costs and trade barriers, identical commodities sold in different countries should sell for the same price when their prices are defined in a common currency. The existing economic literature provides a vast body of theoretical and empirical investigations of the validity of the LOP. In general, previous evidence is mixed and there is no unanimous LOP support or refutation. The effects of exchange rate changes on agricultural outputs have been extensively studied, but the issue of the impacts on traded non-farm produced inputs has not been explored as much. This study investigates the impact of the exchange rate ($CN/$US) on the relative prices in U.S. and Canadian agricultural markets for five major farm outputs and four non-farm produced inputs, which are traded between these two closely integrated economies. Adherence to the LOP is evaluated by examining the pass-through effects of exchange rate changes on these prices using quarterly data. The sample covers the period of 1975 - 1999, when there were substantial exchange rate movements. Regression and cointegration techniques are utilized to estimate whether and at what rate exchange rate changes are transmitted to prices. The empirical results give rise to supportive evidence in favor of the LOP for the five farm outputs. The evidence is somewhat weaker for three of the four non-farm produced inputs, and the LOP is violated for one input. / Master of Science

Made available in DSpace on 2017-07-21T14:35:55Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 CAROLYN DE GEUS WENCESLAU.pdf: 1200941 bytes, checksum: 94de972e28ecf64328f568ac13958cef (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-08-15 / In recent years, Patient Related Outcomes (PROs) have received more importance by providing meaningful informations answered by the patients about their symptoms, functional status, quality of life and satisfaction, and also for giving relevant information about treatment efficacy. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the satisfaction of fibromyalgia patients through PASS and determine the correlation of scores obtained with FIQR in relation to PASS. Other objectives were:to determine the value of best accuracy of FIQR in relation to PASS; to compare the FIQR scores between satisfied and dissatisfied patients and FIQR scores between patients with disability claims or on work disability, in relation to the rest of the sample; to compare the mean scores from HAQ, Beck and PSD questionnaires between satisfied and not satisfied patients and evaluate the correlation between the questionnaires. In the studied sample, 82 fibromyalgia patients were assessed, from public and private healthcare services, according to the modified ACR 2010 criteria. Sociodemographic and clinical data were collected and the impact of fibromyalgia was assessed by FIQR, the satisfaction by PASS and Likert scale, functional capacity by HAQ, depression by the Beck Depression Inventory and the polysymptomatic distress by PSD. In this sample depression (87%) and rheumatological diseases (64%) were the main comorbidities. Most patientes made use of antidepressants (96%) and analgesics (81%), but only 21% of patients performed at least 150 minutes of aerobic exercise per week. The results from the questionnaires showed severe impact of fibromyalgia, severe polysymptomatic distress, moderate to severe functional disability and moderate to severe depression symptoms. Patients with disability claims, or on work disability showed statistical difference in FIQR and Beck mean scores when compared to the rest of the sample. Patient satisfaction was considerably low in PASS (15% satisfied), as well as in Likert scale: 2.3 ± 2.8. There was no statistical difference between sociodemographic and clinical variables in relation to PASS satisfaction, except in older patients (p = 0.03) and patients with longer time since disease diagnosis (p = 0.003), who showed higher satisfaction. Correlation between FIQR and PASS was weak and negative (r = -0.26), showing that alterations in FIQR are little related to patient satisfaction. There was statistical difference (p = 0.001) in FIQR scores between the satisfied and the not satisfied group, and also in scores from other questionnaires comparing both groups, showing that dissatisfied patients have lower quality of life. Strong correlation was demonstrated between FIQR and HAQ questionnaires (r = 0.68) and FIQR and Beck (r = 0.61). The value of best accuracy of FIQR in relation to PASS was 65 (ROC curve), but with low sensitivity and specificity. The best specificity values, which reflect values where 100% of patients are satisfied, were very low for each questionnaire. This sample showed low satisfaction, severe physical and psychological symptoms in fibromyalgia patients, suggesting reinforcement of non pharmacological strategies for the treatment of the disease. And that in studies addressing therapeutic measures for fibromyalgia, satisfaction measures should be used. / Nos últimos anos os PROs: Patient Related Outcomes tem apresentado maior importância por fornecerem informações importantes respondidas pelo próprio paciente em relação aos seus sintomas, estado funcional, qualidade de vida e satisfação, além de permitir avaliar a resposta do paciente ao tratamento instituído. O objetivo principal deste estudo foi avaliar a satisfação dos pacientes com fibromialgia através do PASS e determinar a correlação dos escores obtidos através do FIQR com o PASS. Objetivos específicos foram determinar o valor de melhor acurácia do FIQR em relação ao PASS, comparar as médias dos escores do FIQR,entre pacientes satisfeitos e não satisfeitos e os escores do FIQR entre pacientes afastados do trabalho ou em litígio trabalhista, comparados com o restante da amostra. Também comparar as médias dos escores dos questionários: HAQ, Beck e PSD entre pacientes satisfeitos e não satisfeitos e fazer a correlação entre os questionários. Na amostra estudada foram avaliados 82 pacientes com fibromialgia, provenientes de rede pública e privada, de acordo com os critérios do ACR 2010 modificados. Foram coletados dados sociodemográficos e clínicos, foi avaliado o impacto da fibromialgia através do FIQR, a satisfação pelo PASS e escala de Likert, a capacidade funcional pelo HAQ, a depressão através do Inventário de Depressão de Beck e o estresse polissintomático pelo PSD. Nesta amostra depressão (87%) e doenças reumatológicas (64%) eram as comorbidades mais frequentes. A maioria dos pacientes (96%) fazia uso de antidepressivos e 81% utilizavam analgésicos;mas somente 21% dos pacientes realizavam pelo menos 150 minutos de exercício aeróbico por semana O resultado dos questionários demonstrou um impacto importante da fibromialgia, estresse polissintomático severo, incapacidade funcional moderada a grave e sintomas depressivos de intensidade moderada a grave.Pacientes em litígio trabalhista e aqueles afastados do trabalho demonstraram diferença estatística entre as médias do FIQR e do Beck comparado com o restante da amostra. A satisfação dos pacientes foi bastante reduzida, tanto pelo PASS (15% satisfeitos), quanto pela escala de Likert: 2,3 ± 2,8. Não houve diferença estatística entre as variáveis sociodemográficas e clínicas em relação à satisfação avaliada pelo PASS, exceto em pacientes mais velhos (p = 0,03) e pacientes com maior tempo de diagnóstico da doença (p = 0,003), os quais apresentaram maior satisfação. A correlação entre o FIQR e o PASS foi fraca e negativa (r= -0,26), demonstrando que as alterações no FIQR estão pouco relacionadas com a satisfação do paciente. Houve diferença estatística (p = 0,001) nos escores do FIQR entre o grupo satisfeito e o não satisfeito, e também nos escores dos outros questionários comparando os dois grupos, demonstrando que pacientes insatisfeitos apresentaram menor qualidade de vida. Foi demonstrada correlação forte entre os questionários FIQR e HAQ (r = 0,68) e FIQR e Beck (r = 0,61). O valor de melhor acurácia do FIQR em relação ao PASS foi 65 (curva ROC) mas com sensibilidade e especificidade baixos. Os valores de melhor especificidade, valores onde 100% dos pacientes se encontram satisfeitos, foram bastante baixos para cada questionário analisado. Esta amostra demonstrou pouca satisfação nos pacientes com fibromialgia, impacto importante da doença, associado com severidade de sintomas físicos e psíquicos, sugerindo que no tratamento sejam enfatizadas medidas não farmacológicas e que também, nos estudos que abordam medidas terapêuticas para a fibromialgia, sejam utilizadas medidas de satisfação.