Infection after trauma complicates the patients clinical course. Infection leads to longer critical care and hospital stays, has been associated with increased mortality rates and places considerable cost pressures on health economies. The predictors of infection after severe injury are not known, and the effects on outcomes other than mortality are under-reported. The overall objective of this research was to characterise factors predictive of infection in severely injured patients admitted to critical care. A prospective cohort study of 271 patients investigated admission factors predictive of the development of infection. A second study of 280 patients evaluated post-injury immune cell changes and the association with infection. Thirdly the relationship between early coagulopathy and infections was investigated in 158 patients. Finally a study of 385 patients examined the use of Tranexamic Acid (TXA) and its association with infection and other outcomes. Infection was a significant burden for severely injured patients. Admission hypoperfusion was the only early characteristic associated with the development of infection, and a dose dependent relationship was observed between severity of shock and increased percentage of infection (p<0.01). Lymphopenia prolonged to day four post injury was strongly predictive infection (OR 0.10, CI 0.02-0.48, p<0.01). At 24 hours, the anticoagulant Protein C was lower in those with infection (Infection: 70.2 iu/dL vs. No infection: 83.3 iu/dL p=0.02), and increased fibrinolysis was also associated with infectious complications (Infection: 6156 μg/L vs. No infection: 3324 μg/L p=0.03). There was a trend to a beneficial relationship between TXA and infection, and it was independently associated with reduced organ failure (OR 0.27, CI: 0.10 – 0.73, p=0.01) and mortality (OR 0.16 CI 0.03 - 0.86, p=0.03). In severely injured patients, admission shock, prolonged lymphopenia and early coagulation dysfunction post severe injury were independent predictors of infection. Timely modulation of these responses after trauma may help to reduce the burden of infection.

The ACT automated admissions system was adopted by t he Colleges and Universities in the Utah system of higher education in 1974 . The automated admission system was conceived at a time when College enrollment al l over the United States was decreasing, and thus was viewed by its proponents as a positive step in alleviating some of the ' articulation problems between post secondary institutions, high school counselors and prospective students. Educators who developed the program felt that it would be an advantage to prospective students by providing an admissions decision shortly after the ACT was taken. Automated admissions appears to be an advantage to high school counselors because i t eliminates the need for a high school transcript in the admissions process, and because it reduces the amount of time the counselor is involved in the mechanics of the admissions process. This study represents an effort to determine the impact of the Automated Admissions system on the high school counselor and on prospective college students. The results of this study indicate that a significant number of Utah high school counselors favor the Automated Admissions system as opposed to "traditional" admissions systems formerly in use, because of the reduction in clerical work required of the counselor .

In 2009, a local physician assistant (PA) program lost accreditation due to decreased success in licensure pass rates on the Physician Assistant National Certification Examination (PANCE). In response, the program's admissions committee required additional metrics for accepting quality candidates more likely to pass the licensure examination on the first attempt. The purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of these metrics, specifically the relationship between demographics, prerequisite admission requirements, and PANCE success. The theoretical framework and conceptual model shaping this study was Bordage's illumination and magnify framework and Swail's geometric model of student persistence and achievement. The purpose of this nonexperimental quantiative study was to investigate the relationhip between the demographic variables, preadmission requirements, and their relationship to predict first-time PANCE success. Using archival data, total sampling (N = 107) included all students who took the PANCE from 2012 to 2016. Binary logistic regression results showed that The Graduate Record Examination quantitative reasoning score was statistically significant (p < .01), and a poor predictor of success, secondary to not having a significant effect on the odds of observing PANCE success. The overall results did not provide admission predictors of student success on the first-time attempt to pass PANCE. The study has significance for social change in the area of admissions policy development that supports a nonbiased process for the identification and selection of quality PA candidates.

The thesis reviews current admission control schemes in cellular IP networks. It proposes an improved version of Threshold Access Sharing and a new scheme: weight-based scheme. Finally, an admission control scheme for hierarchical cellular network is introduced.

A Mobile Ad Hoc Network (MANET) is a shared wireless network without any infrastructure, consisting of mobile nodes connected by wireless links. The nodes are free to move and organize themselves arbitrarily. The nodes in the network are therefore depending on each other in order to communicate over multiple hops. Due to the physical characteristics of wireless networks, the channel is time-varying, which makes it hard to both predict and sustain a bit rate level. The nodes’ mobility causes topology changes, and further load and capacity variations. Traditional usage areas are battlefield and disaster areas, while new areas like extended network coverage and gaming are emerging. Quality of Service (QoS) is needed in every network in order to differentiate traffic with different performance requirements, e.g. voice and e-mail applications. Providing QoS in wireless environments with varying conditions is complex, and hard guarantees can not be given. Consequently, the aim is to give differentiated treatment to traffic with different performance requirements. In addition, we can not study the MANET without considering fixed networks. Communication with fixed networks is important, for example by accessing the Internet. In this thesis the Differentiated Services (DiffServ) architecture is applied and adapted to MANETs. Using the same QoS architecture will ease the transition between the wireless and wired domain. But the special characteristics of wireless networks require modifications to the original DiffServ architecture. In investigations there was found restrictions on the number of classes to use, and this number was dependent on the type of traffic in the network. A QoS architecture based on the DiffServ framework is proposed, with an admission control based on the concept of shadow classes, and Explicit Congestion Notification (ECN) to avoid congestion. New flows are tested in a shadow class before getting admission to the network and its designated class. The shadow class has the same scheduling properties as the designated class, but is differentiated by a higher drop probability in the buffers. Both the admission control and ECN are thus build on the same principle by controlling the load from probabilistic functions in the buffers, and are studied to find their individual and combined effects. In wireless environments the probability of a packet loss increases with the number of hops, which gives services an unpredictable performance for users. A predictable service, independent of number of hops, is provided by scheduling based on the path information; the packets are differentiated based on the number of hops made or left to make, increasing the predictability at the cost of performance.

This research explored how memorable messages and formal (official) university messages work together to inform and influence students’ college choices. Recognizing the ways in which university-constructed and other memorable messages influence students’ choice of college could potentially help colleges improve their recruitment messages and distinguish themselves from other institutions. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to obtain data from the participants, and the data were analyzed through a thematic, constant comparative method. Within the context of higher education, findings revealed students’ perceptions of memorable college-related messages, the sources of memorable college-related messages, the characteristics that increase the likelihood that students will recall a college-related message, and the extent to which college-related messages influenced students’ choice of college. This study extends the exploration of the memorable message construct and provides practical implications for university admission offices and their student recruitment efforts.

El desarrollo y las avances recientes de la tecnología de los ordenadores y de la tecnología de alta velocidad de redes han hecho posible que las aplicaciones de video bajo demanda estén conectadas a "shared-computing" servidores reemplazando los sistemas tradicionales donde cada aplicación tenía su propia máquina dedicada para servirla. La aplicación de video bajo demanda permite a los usuarios seleccionar de una lista de videos su película favorita y ver su reproducción a su gusto.Sin embargo, la aplicación de video bajo demanda se considera como una de las aplicaciones que debería soportar largos "video streams", que consumen muchos recursos como el anch de banda de red y I/O, a gran número de clientes. Por eso, el servidor de video debería asegurar los recursos necesarios para cada "stream" durante un periodo de tiempo largo (e.g. 7200 segundos) para que los clientes reproduzcan el video sin "jitter" y "starvation" en sus búferes.Esta tesis presenta el diseño y la implementación de un Servidor Proxy de Video (VPS) que puede proveer video bajo demanda interactiva. El VPS consiste de tres componentes (partes) principales. La primera parte es el Modulo de Control de Admisión (ACM) que recibe las peticiones de los clientes, negocia los recursos requeridos, y decide si la petición puede ser aceptada o rechazada basado en la disponibilidad de los recursos. La segunda parte es el Modulo de Manejo de los Recursos (RMM) que maneja los recursos del sistema como el CPU, la Memoria, la Red, y el Disco. Este consta de cuatro "brokers" que reservan a los recursos necesarios basado en una política predefinida. La tercera parte es el algoritmo CB_MDA "Credit_Based Media Delivery Algorithm" que controla y regula el flujo de los "streams" del video. La CB_MDA utiliza una combinación de canales unicast y "multicast" para transmitir el video. Los "streams" de "multicast" se inician para empezar a emitir el video desde el principio, mientras los canales unicast se usan para juntar los llegados tardes a un "stream multicast" apropiado. En la implementación, el CB_MDA detecta los momentos cuando el servidor tiene disponibilidad de recursos y les asigna a los usuarios apropiados para crear un trabajo en adelanto. / The recent advances and development of inexpensive computers and high speed networking technology have enabled the Video on Demand (VoD) application to connect to shared-computing servers, replacing the traditional computing environments where each application was having its own dedicated special purpose computing hardware. The VoD application enables the viewer to select, from a list of video files, his favourite video file and watch its reproduction at will.However, the VoD application is known as one of the applications that must provide long-lived video streams which consume high resources such as I/O and network bandwidth to a large number of clients. Therefore, a video server must secure the necessary resources for each stream during a long period of time (e.g. 7200 seconds) so that the clients can reproduce (play) the video data without witnessing jitter or starvation in their buffers.This thesis presents the design and implementation for a video proxy server (VPS) which can provide interactive video on demand. The VPS consists of three main parts. The first part is the Admission Control Module which receives the clients' requests, negotiates the required resources, and decides whether to accept or reject a client based on the available resources. The second part is the Resources Management Module which manages several shared resources such as the CPU, the Memory, the Network and the Disk It consists of four brokers that can reserve the necessary resources based on a predefined policy. The third part is the CB_MDA algorithm which is responsible for regulating the resources assignment and scheduling the video streams. The CB_MDA uses a combination of multicast and unicast channels for transmitting the video data. The multicast streams are initiated to start a video file from the beginning while the unicast channels are used to join the later arrivals to the appropriate multicast stream. In the implementation, the CB_MDA discovers the period of time when the server has plenty of resources an assigns them to appropriate clients in order to create work-ahead video data.The thesis further goes beyond the design of the VPS and presents a video client architecture that can synchronize with the server and work as a plug-in for producing the video data on different players such as MPEG-Berkely player, Xine.etc.

In this research, we propose a framework for measurement-based traffic engineering and connection admission control in radio access networks based on the Internet Protocol (IP). This framework is evaluated by simulation using the popular network simulator ns-2. The framework is adaptive to changes in the network load and can distinguish between different types of service. All traffic engineering decisions are made by edge routers (ERs) at the rim of the network domain. Multiple disjoint paths are configured between those ERs. Network state information is gathered in two different fashions. We evaluate a scheme based on the states of the queues on each alternative path and a scheme based on end-to-end probe packet transmission characteristics on each alternative path. Both schemes are compared to a shortest path first (SPF) routing approach.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the current conditions of the recognition and satisfaction of the open admission program of twelve-year basic education. In addition, to analyze the differences between the recognition and satisfaction of the open admission program in school environmental variables and performance of personal variables. The methodology adopted by this study, is quantitative by using questionnaire. The samples consisted of 620 teachers selected from 97 public and private junior high schools in Kaohsiung city. 620 questionnaires were released, 498 were retrieved, and after discarding 8 invalid questionnaires, there were 490 valid questionnaires, reaching 98.3% of valid questionnaires. The researcher analyzed the survey data by various statistical methods, including: t-test, one-way ANOVA, Scheffe method. The findings of this study follow: I. The current conditions of recognition of the open admission program of twelve-year basic education are general, especially on the dimension of adaptive guidance. II. The current conditions of satisfaction of the open admission program of twelve-year basic education are a little unsatisfied, especially on the dimension of adaptive guidance are satisfied. III. Teacher who are male and whose seniority are over 26 years have the most significantly greater effect in the different conditions between teachers¡¦ performance and the recognition of the open admission program of twelve-year basic education IV. Teacher who are male and whose position in subject teacher have the most significantly greater effect in the different conditions between teachers¡¦ performance and the recognition of the open admission program of twelve-year basic education. Some suggestions will be proposed to the governmental administration, the education authorities, junior high school principals and teachers, and the extended research as well, based on the findings. Key words: twelve-year basic education, open admission program and policy satisfaction

Several research studies have been conducted on the effectiveness of check-in/ check-out (CICO) procedures in behavior education programs (BEPs). However, little research has been conducted on implementing CICO procedures specifically for special education students. This study examined the effects of CICO procedures on six junior high students receiving special education services. Baseline data of targeted behaviors were collected during the first two weeks of the third six weeks grading period. The participants were receiving special education services due to a previous Admission, Review, and Dismissal (ARD) committee decision. CICO procedures are part of a secondary level behavior support system typically found in the BEP. The CICO procedures include a morning check-in, teacher feedback on a daily behavior report card (DBRC), an afternoon check-out, and weekly parent notification of student performance. A token economy system and behavior team meetings are two components also involved in implementing the CICO procedures. Intervention data were collected during implementation of the CICO procedures during the remaining three weeks of the third six weeks grading period. The intervention was not implemented the last week of the grading period due to final exams. The CICO procedures had high social validity ratings. Reliability, limitations and implications for future research on the current study are discussed.