Background: MY7 clinical trial compared dexamethasone plus melphalan (MD) vs. prednisone plus melphalan (MP) in multiple myeloma treatment and found no statistically significant difference in overall survival (OS) between the two groups. But, patients reacted to treatment differently. We aimed to identify patients who might have benefited from dexamethasone, and characterize them by their baseline demographic and clinical factors. Methods: First, the prognostic model for OS was developed on the MP arm. The estimated coefficients and baseline hazard were applied to the MD arm to derive martingale residuals (MR). Classification and regression tree analysis was done to identify independent predictive factors for OS and MR was used as response variable. All covariates in categorical shape were used as independent variables to develop the predictive model in MD arm. MP arm was divided accordingly. Subgroups with negative mean MR (survived > expected) were candidates for positive responders while those with positive mean MR (survived < expected) were candidates of negative responders. Mean MR in each subgroup and p values from comparison of OS (log rank test stratified by subgroups) were used to combine the appropriate subgroups as the positive responders or negative responders. Results: A total of 97 patients (42%) in MD arm were identified as positive responders and their OS (median of 44.5 months) was significantly longer than that (median of 33 months) in the corresponding subgroups in MP arm (HR = 0.56, 95% CI 0.4-0.8; p = 0.0014). All positive responders had three common baseline characteristics: aged ≤75 years, calcium concentration ≤2.6 mmol/L and Durie-Salmon stages 2 or 3. Among patients with ECOG performance status<2 those with either HGB≥100 mg/dl or HGB<100 mg/dl and WBC≥4,000 and <4 lytic bone lesions were categorized as positive responders. Also, among the patients with ECOG performance status≥2, males with >3 lytic bone lesions were positive responders. Negative responders (HR = 1.56, 95% confidence interval 1.1 – 2.2; p = 0.006) included patients aged >75 or aged ≤75 with calcium concentration >2.6 mmol/L or aged ≤75 with calcium concentration ≤2.6 mmol/L but had Durie-Salmon stage 1. Conclusions: Evaluation of the hypotheses validity warrants further studies. / Thesis (Master, Community Health & Epidemiology) -- Queen's University, 2008-07-21 13:46:53.748

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In this thesis I examined the impacts of variable retention harvesting on residual tree mortality and natural regeneration of white spruce [Picea glauca (Moench (Voss)] in northern Alberta. The VR was done in four overstory canopy compositions (ranging from deciduous dominated to conifer dominated) and at six rates of canopy retention (2%, 10%, 20%, 50%, 75% and 100%). After 10 years there was 32.9 % mortality of aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.) and 16.9 % mortality of spruce in the VR cuts. Mortality of individual trees was greater with low density of trees, in the conifer stands and for trees with short live crowns, which are large and trees near machine corridors. Natural regeneration of spruce was greatest with higher availability of seed trees (>30 ha-1) and on machine corridors, where stocking reached 74%. By contrast, stocking was 14% on retention strips, when seed tree density was 11 seed trees ha-1. / Forest Biology and Management

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Zahlreiche Studien den Stand der Forschung in Bezug auf die Ökosystemdienstleistungen untersucht. Dennoch wurde die Dimension „Volumen und Höhe“, d.h. die dritte Dimension städtischer Systeme, in den Studien zu Ökosystemdienstleistungen in städtischen Gebieten ignoriert. Die Forschungsziele und Fragestellungen dieser Dissertation lauten: i) Stand der aktuellen Forschung zur dritten Dimension von Ökosystemdienstleistungen im städtischen Raum, ii) Beurteilung des Zusammenhangs von urbanen mehrdimensionalen Indikatoren (zwei- und dreidimensionalen Indikatoren) für die Oberflächentemperatur in der Stadt und iii) Unterschiede zwischen Innen- und Außentemperaturen in urbanen Räumen. Diese Dissertation ist in vier Kapitel gegliedert. Im ersten und zweiten Kapitel werden die Forschungslücken und das Ziel der vorliegenden Untersuchung erläutert. Kapitel 3 enthält die veröffentlichten Artikel. Das letzte Kapitel behandelt die Ergebnisse der veröffentlichten Artikel. Diese Dissertation betont die Bedeutung von dreidimensionalen Studien in urbanen Ökosystemen, um das Konzept der Nachhaltigkeit in Städten voranzutreiben. Deshalb werden kontinentübergreifende Forschungen für weitere Studien empfohlen, die die dreidimensionale Struktur aller städtischen Komponenten und ihre Auswirkungen auf die Außen- und Innentemperatur berücksichtigen. / Among the studies on ecosystem services undertaken in urban areas, a ‎dimension ‘volume and height’, i.e., the third-dimension of urban environment is largely ignored. More specific, three-dimensional spatial models will increase the knowledge of how complex environment ‎shape the micro-climate in urban ‎environment. The research objectives and questions of this dissertation is: i) the status of the current research addressing the third-dimension of ‎ecosystem services in urban area, ii) assessing the association of urban multi-dimensional (two- and three- ‎dimensional) indicators on urban surface temperature and iii) variation of indoor and outdoor urban temperature pattern. This dissertation is organized into four chapters. The ‎first and second chapter explain the gaps in literature and the aim of this research. Chapter 3 holds the published articles. The last chapter discusses the results of the published articles. This dissertation emphasizes the importance of three-dimensional studies in urban ecosystems to advance the concept of sustainability in cities. Therefore, cross-continental studies that consider the three-dimensional structure of all the urban components and its impact on outdoor and indoor temperature is recommended for future research. / به جرات می توان گفت که در مطالعات خدمات اکوسیستم، بخصوص خدمات اکوسیستم شهری ، بعد سوم که شامل "ارتفاع و حجم" می باشد اصلا مورد توجه قرار نگرفته است. هدف از این پایان نامه، تلفیق مفهوم بعد سوم در خدمات اکوسیستم شهری و استفاده از فواید آن می باشد. مطالعه بعد سوم دانش ما را در نحوه شکل گیری اقلیم خُرد شهری افزایش می دهد. هدف این پروژه دکتری پاسخ به سوالات ذیل می باشد: 1) سطح آگاهی تحقیقات از بعد سوم خدمات اکوسیستم شهری، 2) ارزیابی ارتباط شاخص های چندبعدی (دو و سه بعدی) با دمای سطح و 3) ارزیابی الگوی دمای درونی و بیرونی در شهر. جهت پاسخ دادن به سوال های مطرح شده، این پژوهش به چهار فصل تقسیم شده است. فصل اول و دوم، که جایگاه خدمات اکوسیستم را در مطالعات شهری بررسی و جای خالی مفهوم بعد سوم در مطالعات خدمات اکوسیستم شهری را جستجو می کند. فصل سوم، شامل سه مقاله چاپ شده در راستای این پروژه دکتری می باشد. فصل چهارم، که نتایج بدست آمده را تجزیه و تحلیل می کند. نتایج بدست آمده نشان می دهد که مطالعات خدمات اکوسیستم شهری از معنی کلی و بنیادی به سمت سازش پذیری شهرها با پدیده تغییر اقلیم در حال تغییر است. همچنین نتایج نشان می دهد که ساختار متفاوت شهری بر شکل گیری الگوی دمای بیرون و داخل ساختمان ها موثر می باشد. استنتاج نتایج بدست آمده از این پایان نامه دو مورد را پیشنهاد می کند. اول، بررسی نقش ساختار های دو بعدی و سه بعدی بر روی دیگر شهر ها و تاثیر آن بر شکل گیری دمای بیرون و درونی ساختمان ها.