The Crowsnest Pass rates are fixed rail freight rates that apply on the carriage of most Canadian grain. They were originally established in 1897, and have been embodied in Federal statute since 1925. In recent years, the rates have covered less than 40 percent of rail-grain costs. With continuing cost inflation, this proportion will decrease to even lower levels over time. Several policy alternatives are available to the Federal Government with respect to the transportation of grain by rail. These alternatives are characterized primarily by different freight rate levels. The lowest rate level considered herein is the current one; the highest is a level at which the railways would recover the long-run variable costs of the rail-grain system plus a contribution to their constant costs. For each price-level alternative, there are a range of subsidy alternatives. Depending on the particular price level, subsidies could be given to the railways, the grain producers, neither of these, or both of them. In order to evaluate the policy alternatives, there must be criteria for evaluation. The criteria used in this thesis are the major objectives that relate to the issue. Two of the objectives are to improve economic efficiency and to facilitate the development of secondary industry in the Prairie provinces. Both of these objectives favour the pricing alternative of raising grain freight rates to a compensatory level. Without producer subsidies, however, this alternative violates a third objective--that of minimizing grain-producer transportation costs. In addition to these three objectives, there are four objectives that refer particularly to the Federal Government. They are maximizing votes, implementing the "user pay" philosophy, minimizing total subsidy payments, and assisting railway variable-cost recovery in grain transport. A major consideration that is not an objective is the resistance of producers to direct, rather than indirect, subsidies. The quantitative impacts of raising rail-grain rates on the railways and on grain producers are substantial. Implementing rail freight rates equal to the long-run variable costs of transporting grain would have increased the combined net revenue of the Canadian National Railways and CP Rail by at least two-thirds in 1976. It would have decreased the net income of Prairie grain farms by (at most) 15 percent in the same year. Two policy alternatives are chosen as the better alternatives. The first policy selected is that of initial Crowsnest Pass rates, increasing over time to a larger and larger proportion of rail-grain costs. This pricing scheme would be accompanied by constant railway subsidies to reflect the difference between costs and revenues. The second policy is an immediate increase to rates covering variable costs, with subsequent annual increases to adjust for inflation. With this pricing policy, there would be constant producer subsidies equal to the initial rate increase. / Business, Sauder School of / Graduate

Background: Research has found that injury rates in football are higher in competition than during practice. However, there is little research on the association between injury rates and type of football practices and how these specific rates compare with those in competitions. Purpose: This study utilized data from the National Collegiate Athletic Association Injury Surveillance System (NCAA ISS) to describe men's collegiate football practice injuries (academic years 2004-2005 to 2008-2009) in 4 event types: competitions, scrimmages, regular practices, and walkthroughs. Study Design: Descriptive epidemiological study. Methods: Football data during the 2004-2005 to 2008-2009 academic years were analyzed. Annually, an average of 60 men's football programs provided data (9.7% of all universities sponsoring football). Injury rates per 1000 athlete-exposures (AEs), injury rate ratios (RRs), 95% CIs, and injury proportions were reported. Results: The NCAA ISS captured 18,075 football injuries. Most injuries were reported in regular practices (55.9%), followed by competitions (38.8%), scrimmages (4.4%), and walkthroughs (0.8%). Most AEs were reported in regular practices (77.6%), followed by walkthroughs (11.5%), competitions (8.6%), and scrimmages (2.3%). The highest injury rate was found in competitions (36.94/1000 AEs), followed by scrimmages (15.7/1000 AEs), regular practices (5.9/1000 AEs), and walkthroughs (0.6/1000 AEs). These rates were all significantly different from one another. Distributions of injury location and diagnoses were similar across all 4 event types, with most injuries occurring at the lower extremity (56.0%) and consisting of sprains and strains (50.6%). However, injury mechanisms varied. The proportion of injuries due to player contact was greatest in scrimmages (66.8%), followed by regular practices (48.5%) and walkthroughs (34.9%); in contrast, the proportion of injuries due to noncontact/overuse was greatest in walkthroughs (41.7%), followed by regular practices (35.6%) and scrimmages (21.9%). Conclusion: Injury rates were the highest in competitions but then varied by the type of practice event, with higher practice injury rates reported in scrimmage. In addition, greater proportions of injuries were reported in regular practices, and greater proportions of exposures were reported in regular practices and walkthroughs. Efforts to minimize injury in all types of practice events are essential to mitigating injury incidence related to both contact and noncontact.

The agriculture industry has been around for hundreds of years. Although farmers and ranchers work every day to put food on the tables of billions of people from all around the world, most agricultural producers require assistance to finance their operations and continue production. This research is motivated by recent changes in interest rates and the downturn in agricultural commodity prices. This study examines how farm-level financial statements are impacted by changes in interest rates and agricultural commodity market prices. A Monte Carlo simulation is used to model several stochastic variables and derive key financial calculations. This study shows how the financial statements of different agricultural operations change due to factors that are largely beyond the control of agricultural producers.

Vegetation in semi-arid regions is subject to change when heavily utilised by herbivores. Changes in species richness, species and growth form composition, total cover and plant palatability in response to rest (fenced) and grazing (open) treatments was investigated in Sanbona Wildlife Reserve over five years (2004-2008). This reserve is over 55 000 ha and has four dominant vegetation types: Little Karoo Quartz Vygieveld, Western Little Karoo, Montagu Shale Renosterveld and previously transformed Renosterveld classified here as Old Lands. There was no significant change in vegetation dynamics between the fenced or open plots. There were significant differences between years in some vegetation types. All vegetation types showed both treatments having similar shifts in floristic composition. Floristic composition deviated the greatest in 2008 in all vegetation types. This was attributed to an increase in summer and winter rainfall in 2008, as all plots were similarly affected. There was no observed impact of herbivores although disturbance from small rodents and baboons was observed in a few plots. The lack of detectable difference between the fenced and open sites was attributed to low stocking rates, good rainfall and insufficient time.

Background: In the United States, cases of human blastomycosis are largely described in defined geographic areas, with Mississippi reporting the highest prevalence of disease in the southeast region. The infection is uncommonly recognized in mountainous areas, and our previous report of blastomycosis in the southern Appalachian mountains of northeast Tennessee appeared to be an exception to the usual disease distribution. Methods: Our current retrospective study was undertaken to determine whether blastomycosis has persisted as an endemic fungal infection in our northeast Tennessee geographic area and whether epidemiologic features have changed over a 25-year time period. Results: Results show that clinical aspects of the disease have remained fairly constant with few exceptions; mass-type pulmonary lesions have become more common, and itraconazole has emerged as the therapy of choice. Most notably, however, are the observations that blastomycosis persists as a major endemic fungal infection in our mountain region, more than half of all cases occurring during the period from 1996 to 2005 were found in a core area centered on two counties, Washington and Unicoi; three of five counties surrounding the core counties experienced rate increases compared to our previous study. Conclusions: These findings suggest a further expansion of this endemic fungal disease beyond the core region.

The 2007/08 global financial crisis, including pre- and post-crisis reform, led economies to reexamine the concept of capital controls. Theoretical and empirical literature has been divided regarding their effectiveness. This research paper assesses the impact of capital controls on exchange rate stability in South Africa (particularly exchange restrictions used to insulate economies from excessive currency volatility) using time-series analysis and employs event study methodology (Kothari & Warner, 2006; MacKinlay, 1997) to measure the impact of the capital control actions. More specifically, this research paper evaluates the impact of capital controls on (a) exchange rate returns, (b) volatility and (c) liquidity in South Africa for the period commencing 1 January 1999 to 31 December 2014 including the period during the 2007/08 financial crisis. The research paper applies methodology from empirical research on capital controls and currency stability (Pandey, Pasricha, Patnaik, & Shah, 2015), volatility using standard deviation and the GARCH (1,1) model (Abdalla, 2012; Bollerslev, 1986; Farrell, 2001) and liquidity (Karnaukh, Ranaldo, & Söderlind, 2015). In addition, it attempts to determine the effect on exchange rate movements directly attributable to capital controls i.e., the local factors, by removing the dollar risk factor that constitute a significant portion of exchange rate time series as noted by Verdelhan (2015), which serves as the base model for the event study. The research paper finds that overall the key capital controls selected do not have a significant impact on the ZAR/USD exchange rate with limited evidence of an effect on returns, volatility and liquidity.

The rate of hospital readmissions within 30 days of discharge of heart failure (HF) patients affects patient outcomes, the financial stability of the health care facility, and the economy. Hospitals focus on strategies that will decrease the HF readmission rates by cultivating evidence-based interventions that improve patients' transition from the hospital to the community, including promoting self-management of their condition. The purpose of this quality improvement project was to develop, implement, and evaluate the use of health information technology along with written forms of plans of care to assist HF patients in managing their care, divert the HF patients to the physician's office rather than the emergency room, and decrease the hospitalization readmission rate within 30 days of discharge. A multidisciplinary team consisting of HF nurses, a cardiologist, and a pharmacist, utilized the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality guidelines to develop a HF checklist to assist in data collection. Nurses communicated with HF patients post discharge using electronic devices to reinforce discharge instructions, assess medication compliance, and encourage self-management. The less than 30-day readmission rate for the 10 patients in the pilot group was 20%, an improvement over the hospital rate of 30%. The 20% that were readmitted did not used their written discharge instructions, but the 80% that were not readmitted used their written discharge instructions with their electronic devices. This DNP project will promote positive social change by improving HF patients' outcomes and quality of life, and present health care provider interventions to decrease HF hospital readmission rates.

Each year, hospitalizations from long-term care (LTC) settings occur, in part, due to underdeveloped nursing assessment skills, ineffective communication with primary care providers (PCPs), and delayed intervention. Through staff development nursing education, the quality and timeliness of care can be improved. The practice question that guided this doctoral project focused on whether evidence-based research information would assist in decreasing LTC-to-hospital admission rates through improved nursing assessment skills and better communication with PCPs. Using the logic model, the effectiveness of a program was evaluated and the impact of interventions on a predicted outcome was determined. Sources of evidence included obtaining best practice research information from scholarly nursing journals and official nursing websites. Analytical strategies included a review of the literature to examine data from nursing journals, websites, and other publication sources in addition to the use of a synthesis matrix that classified different ideas rated by the Cochrane Consumer Network. The findings of this project might contribute to positive social change by fostering improved patient assessments, enhanced communication with PCPs, early intervention, and decreased LTC-to-hospital admission rates through the improvement of nursing practice policy.

Graduation rates in community colleges in academic programs are declining, which negatively impacts funding for these institutions. Enrollment processes of community colleges, and the ease of transferring credit hours, deter students from meeting criteria for graduation. The objective of this study is to determine the effect that residential housing has on graduation rates among community college students in Mississippi. The study used a quantitative, cross-sectional research design to look at graduation rates over a 2-year period of time to study graduation rates of residential and commuter students controlling for other demographic characteristics. A higher percentage of commuter students (18%) graduated within normal time than did residential students (11%). Graduation rates of 150% of time was approximately the same (35%). Subsequently, more residential students (54%) than commuter students (49%) graduated at 200% time.

The dropout rate for many Mississippi high schools has improved tremendously over the last decade. In 2017, the Mississippi Department of Education reported that the dropout rate for the State declined form 13.9% to 10%. This rate was only 4% higher than the national average. However, with all the research that pertains to student dropouts and the success many states are seeing, there are still school districts failing to show improvement. Many high schools have dropout rates in excess of 20%. This study explored the perceptions of district high school principals, counselors, and other administrators working in schools with students who are at risk of dropping out. It examined the prevention practices or strategies that are the most effective in improving dropout rate conditions. The theoretical framework of this study was the theory of experience and experiential learning theory addressed by Dewey, Neill, and Kolb. Dewey (1916) argued that students could not control their previous experiences, but once a student understood the importance of engaging in the learning and the implications of persisting in school they could then take ownership of their learning and succeed. The importance of this involved student motivation and engagement. Kolb (1984) further developed this theory with the concept of a student’s learning style to help individuals identify the way they learn from experience. Hence, helping students engage in learning by internalizing its value to students remained a primary concept. Data collection methods included surveys, interviews, and a review of participating school’s dropout prevention plans. The results of this study indicated that successful schools are using dropout prevention plans which may be emulated or duplicated in other schools. The components of such plans are directly connected to the themes that emerged from successful school leaders regarding student persistence in high school. The study found that key elements for a successful program included the following: community collaborations, leadership development, teaching and learning practices, and support from district level leadership. It was determined that the administrators and counselors believed that they were capable of meeting the needs of their students through various programs, district initiatives, teacher and leadership development, and the involvement of all stakeholders which were the leading factors to their success. All of these elements were required in order to see substantive gains in student dropout rate.