In the first part parametric models for which the likelihood is intractable are discussed. A method for fitting such models when simulation from the model is possible is presented, which gives estimates that are linear functions of a possibly large set of candidate features. A combination of simulations based on a fractional design and sets of discriminant analyses is used to find an optimal estimate of the parameter vector and its covariance matrix. The procedure is an alternative to Approximate Bayesian Computation and Indirect Inference methods. A way of assessing goodness of fit is briefly described. In the second part the aim is to give a relationship between the effect of one or more explanatory variables on the response when adjusting for an intermediate variable and when not. This relationship is examined mainly for the cases in which the response depends on the two variables via a logistic regression or a proportional hazards model. Some of the theoretical results are illustrated using a set of data on prostate cancer. Then matched pairs with binary outcomes are discussed, for which two methods of analysis are described and compared.

The organisms in this study were chosen due to their associations with foods and their potential as food borne pathogens. Food borne diseases are an import public health problem in most countries. Bacteria of the genera Campylobacter, Salmonella and Listeria can be transported by poultry and poultry products to humans. Gastroenteritis, typhoid fever, diarrhea, dysentery may originate from the infection. This study was undertaken to determine the incidence of pathogens in a poultry processing plant using polymerase chain reaction and conventional tests and to determine the formation and survival of biofilm cells of food pathogens in trisodium phosphate.

The organisms in this study were chosen due to their associations with foods and their potential as food borne pathogens. Food borne diseases are an import public health problem in most countries. Bacteria of the genera Campylobacter, Salmonella and Listeria can be transported by poultry and poultry products to humans. Gastroenteritis, typhoid fever, diarrhea, dysentery may originate from the infection. This study was undertaken to determine the incidence of pathogens in a poultry processing plant using polymerase chain reaction and conventional tests and to determine the formation and survival of biofilm cells of food pathogens in trisodium phosphate.

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This doctoral project, entitled 'Displacing AIDS: Therapeutic Transitions in Northern Uganda' examines the biosocial transitions engendered by the treatment of HIV, focusing on antiretroviral therapy (ART/ARV) interventions, and the ways these are intertwined with the social transitions of conflict, displacement and return. The research involved an inter-disciplinary qualitative study with internally displaced communities living with HIV in northern Uganda, during 10 months fieldwork between 2006 and 2009. Northern Uganda has experienced a two decade civil war between the government of Uganda and the Lord’s Resistance Army (1987 to 2006). In 2006, after a cessation of hostilities was signed, hundreds of thousands of the displaced began returning ‘home’. The effects of conflict and social displacement were to significantly shape both the social and medical aspects of ART provision. I argue that northern Uganda was significantly excluded from widespread national community-based responses as a result of the war during the 1990s and early 2000s. Given this background, ART interventions were to engender rapid social transformations among those with HIV, but also in relation to the perceptions of HIV/AIDS in the broader community. I explore these intersecting biosocial and displacement-induced transitions through several streams: the social transitions of forced displacement and the return process; the transitions from illness to a precarious health; from social exclusion to a contested inclusion; transitions between local and biomedical understandings of healing; transitions in authority and biopower; as well as continually shifting forms of identity, support and affiliation. I give particular emphasis to forms of socio-spatial and medico -moral transformations. I argue that ARV interventions have been nested in the social and moral spaces of displacement. In particular the spatial configurations of encampment, involving extreme congestion and lack of privacy, have shaped patterns of disclosure and community and identity formation. The influence of Catholicism, shaped by missionary histories in the region, has also had a strong impact. Themes of militarism, lack of productivity, and encampment have shaped the language and perceptions of HIV and AIDS. Theoretically I engage with debates around biosociality, stigmatisation and ‘clientship’ within the emerging literature on ARVs. I trace the intersections of these questions with those in forced migration studies regarding the social transformations of displacement and return. Furthermore, I use this social analysis to engage with public-health perspectives on ARV provision. I argue that community-based strategies require adaptation to the social contexts of displacement. Such adaptations, involving attentiveness to the socio-spatial specificity of displaced contexts, are critical for the long-term provision and sustainability of antiretroviral therapy to displaced communities. In particular the return phase has created unexpected challenges for treatment continuity, arising from large-scale population movements. The thesis has a strong narrative focus and traces the experiences of several people living with HIV through the paths of displacement and return.

Pharmaceutical R&D is time-consuming, extremely costly and involves great uncertainty. Although there is a broad range of literature on statistical issues in clinical trials, there is not much that focuses directly on the modelling of pre-clinical research. This thesis investigates models and associated software for improving decisionmaking in this area, building on earlier work by the same research group. We introduce a class of adaptive policies called forwards induction policies for candidate drug selection, and show that these are optimal, with a straightforward solution algorithm, within a restricted setting, and are usually close to optimal more generally. We also introduce an adaptive probabilities model that allows the incorporation of learning from a project’s progress into the planning process. Real options analysis in the evaluation of project value is discussed. Specifically, we consider the option value of investing in clinical trials once a candidate drug emerges from pre-clinical research. Simulation algorithms are developed to investigate the probability distributions of the total reward, total cost, profitability index and the required future resource allocations of a pharmaceutical project under a given allocation plan. The ability to simulate outcome distributionsmeans that we can also compare the riskiness of different projects and portfolios of projects.

<p>This essay deals with different survival strategies in Hemingway´s <em>The Sun Also Rises</em>, with a focus on three of the characters: Jake, Brett and Cohn. They all try to survive mentally in post-war Europe, and have different ways of handling their traumas.</p>

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This essay deals with different survival strategies in Hemingway´s The Sun Also Rises, with a focus on three of the characters: Jake, Brett and Cohn. They all try to survive mentally in post-war Europe, and have different ways of handling their traumas.