It is anticipated that there will be a shortage of 1.1 million college-educated workers in California by 2030 (Johnson, Bohn, & Cuellar Mejia, 2016). Within this context, the California State University (CSU) is the principal source of skilled workers in the state, producing more career-ready candidates than any other single institution (“California State University 2018 Fact Book“, n.d.). This study examined the relationship between student retention rates and institutional expenditures across the different functional categories of instruction, student services, academic support, and instructional support at the CSU. With the exception of student grants and scholarships, these selected expenditures represent the system’s four largest individual expense categories. This study also sought to reveal the existence of similarities between institutions across the CSU based on institutional characteristics that emerged from the literature as predictors of student success including faculty composition, socioeconomic status of student population, and institutional selectivity (Bailey, Calcagno, Jenkins, Kienzl, & Leinbach, 2005; Ehrenberg & Zhang, 2005a, 2005b; Gansemer-Topf & Schuh (2006); Terenzini, Cabrera, & Bernal, 2001; Titus, 2006b). The sample utilized in this study is the entire population of the CSU, which is comprised of 23 campuses. Data for this study were drawn from the IPEDS database, managed by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). This quantitative, non-experimental, correlational study used panel data analysis to determine if the selected institutional expenditures influence retention rates and also to examine the extent to which institutional expenditures contribute to the prediction of retention rate. Multidimensional Scaling (MDS) cluster analysis was performed for exploratory purposes and to reveal groups with similar institutional characteristics. This study found that instructional, academic support, and institutional support expenditures were positively correlated with student retention rates. This finding suggests that increases in both dollar amounts and proportion of expenditures allocated to each functional category would result in higher retention rates. However, there was an exception: student services expenditures were found to be negatively correlated with student retentions rates, implying that allocating funds to student services activities would not result in higher student retention. This study also found that the CSU institutions can be grouped in six different clusters based on similarities of institutional characteristics, suggesting that the criteria to allocate funds from the CSU system to individual campuses should account for these differences to effectively support student success.

Diploma thesis deals with the position of social contributions in the tax systems of the member states of the European Union. The main aim of this thesis is to compare the position of social contributions in the tax systems of the member states of the European Union using selected indicators and to find groups of states with similar characteristics and similar position of social contributions in tax systems. A cluster analysis was used to analyse the social contributions in 2007 and 2016. Source data was taken from Eurostat database. The cluster analysis defined groups of states where the position of social contributions in relation to the tax system is most similar. The thesis shows that the position of social contributions in the tax systems of the member states of the European Union did not change much during the period under review. Changes in the development of social contributions position can be expected in the future in connection with the population aging. Given the expected pressure on social contributions, which is expected to grow in the future, the achievement of public finances at a sustainable level needs to be ensured. Therefore, possible solutions are proposed in the thesis.

There is notable heterogeneity in clinical presentation of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Classification of COPD is usually based on the severity of airflow limitation (pre- and post- bronchodilator FEV1), which may not sensitively differentiate subpopulations with distinct phenotypes. A recent advance of quantitative medical imaging and data analysis techniques allows for deriving quantitative computed tomography (QCT) imaging-based metrics. These imaging-based metrics can be used to link structural and functional alterations at multiscale levels of human lung. We acquired QCT images of 800 former and current smokers from Subpopulations and Intermediate Outcomes in COPD Study (SPIROMICS). A GPU-based symmetric non-rigid image registration method was applied at expiration and inspiration to derived QCT-based imaging metrics at multiscale levels. With these imaging-based variables, we employed a machine learning method (an unsupervised clustering technique (K-means)) to identify imaging-based clusters. Four clusters were identified for both current and former smokers. Four clusters were identified for both current and former smokers with meaningful associations with clinical and biomarker measures. Results demonstrated that QCT imaging-based variables in patients with COPD can derive statistically stable and clinically meaningful clusters. This sub-grouping can help better categorize the disease phenotypes, ultimately leading to a development of an efficient therapy.

Regulated rivers provide opportunities to improve habitat quality by managing the times, locations, and magnitudes of reservoir releases and diversions across the watershed. To identify these opportunities, managers select priority species and determine when, where, and how to allocate water between competing human and environmental users in the basin. Systems models have been used to recommend allocation of water between species. However, many models consider species’ water needs as constraints on instream flow that is managed to maximize human beneficial uses. Many models also incorporate uncertainty in the system and report an overwhelmingly large number of management alternatives. This dissertation presents three new novel models to recommend the allocation of water and money to improve habitat quality. The new models also facilitate communicating model results to managers and to the public. First, a new measurable and observable habitat metric quantifies habitat area and quality for priority aquatic, floodplain, and wetland habitat species. The metric is embedded in a systems model as an ecological objective to maximize. The systems model helps managers to identify times and locations at which to apply scarce water to most improve habitat area and quality for multiple competing species. Second, a cluster analysis approach is introduced to reduce large dimensional uncertainty problems in habitat models and focus management efforts on the important parameters to measure and monitor more carefully. The approach includes manager preferences in the search for clusters. It identifies a few, easy-to-interpret management options from a large multivariate space of possible alternatives. Third, an open-access web tool helps water resources modelers display model outputs on an interactive web map. The tool allows modelers to construct node-link networks on a web map and facilitates sharing and visualizing spatial and temporal model outputs. The dissertation applies all three studies to the Lower Bear River, Utah, to guide ongoing habitat conservation efforts, recommend water allocation strategies, and provide important insights on ways to improve overall habitat quality and area.

The hospice care population with cancer are often older adults who report many cancer-related symptoms experienced often in clusters. Most prevalent of these symptoms is fatigue and often it co-occurs with depressive symptoms and poor physical functioning. This dissertation examined fatigue, symptom clusters, depression, physical activity, and functional status in older adults with cancer. The aims of the literature review were to understand the relationship among physical functioning, cancer fatigue, fatigue-related symptom clusters, and their relationship with functional status In older adults. The literature related to these associations is insufficient and inconclusive. The methods section aimed to investigate the reliability and validity of the Center for Epidemiology Studies-Depression scale, Boston Short Form (CESD-10). Using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) for confirmatory factor analysis, the factor structure of responses in a cross-sectional sample (N = 200) of adults with different types and stages of cancer was examined. Internal consistency reliability estimate Cronbach’s alpha =0.737. The CESD-10 four-factor model (positive affect, depressive affect, somatic complaints, and interpersonal challenges) fits the data well. The CESD-10 was a valid and reliable measure for assessing depressive symptoms in this study. The final section examined fatigue related symptom clusters and their relationships with functional status in older adult hospice patients with cancer (N=519). The fatigue-related symptom cluster (lack of energy, feeling drowsy and lack of appetite), significantly predicted poor functional status. Experiencing physical and psychological symptoms has a significant impact on functional dependence. Hospice healthcare professionals should be alert to older adults’ symptom cluster experience during assessment and management.

Today, groups considered Hispanic in the United States consist of populations whose complex genetic structures reflect intermixed diverse groups of people who came in contact during Spanish colonization in Latin America. After coming in contact and wiping out most of the Native Americans who occupied North and Latin America, the Spanish also introduced West African individuals for labor to begin developing crops to be shipped back to Europe, resulting in the Trans-Atlantic African slave trade. These migration events and differential gene flow among males and females that occurred throughout Latin America have led to populations that have been genetically transformed from what they were prior to Spanish arrival (Madrigal, 2006). Genetic research commonly refers to individuals considered Hispanic as "tri-hybrids" of Native American, European, and African ancestry (Bertoni et al., 2003; Gonz[aacute]lez-Andrade et al., 2007). This research focuses on populations from present-day Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Cuba, all of whom experienced various population histories as these three ancestral groups came in contact. Published genetic research demonstrates that individuals from Mexico tend to have the highest mean proportion of Native American ancestry, while Puerto Rican individuals have the highest mean proportion of European ancestry, and Cuban individuals have the highest mean proportion of African ancestry (Bonilla et al., 2005; Lisker et al., 1990; Mendizabal et al., 2008; Tang et al., 2007; Via et al., 2011). The present research utilizes craniometric data from these three groups to determine whether the cranial morphology reflects similar population relationships and mean ancestry proportions as found in genetic research through Mahalanobis distance (D2), canonical discriminant function, and normal mixture cluster analyses. Sex-biased ancestry asymmetry was also tested by separating each group by sex and running the same analyses. The results show that all three groups considered Hispanic (Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Cuba) are significantly different from each other; however, when proxy ancestral groups are included (Guatemalan Mayan, Indigenous Caribbean, Spanish, and West African), the Mexican and Guatemalan Mayan samples are the most similar, followed by the Mexican and Indigenous Caribbean samples and the Puerto Rican and Cuban samples. The results of the normal mixture analyses indicate that Mexico has the highest mean ancestry proportion of Native American (Guatemalan Mayan) (72.9%), while the Puerto Rican and Cuban samples both have a higher mean European ancestry proportion, with 81.34% and 73.6% respectively. While the Cuban sample is not reflective of the genetic research in regards to ancestry proportion results, with the highest proportion of African ancestry over European and Native American ancestry, it does have the highest proportion of African ancestry among the three groups (18.4%). When separated by sex, the results indicate that the Mexican and Puerto Rican samples may show some evidence in sex-biased ancestry proportions, with the male individuals having a larger proportion of European ancestry and the female individuals having a larger proportion of Native American or African ancestry. Cuba, on the other hand, does not follow this trend and instead displays a higher proportion of European ancestry in females and a higher proportion of Native American and African ancestry in the males. Techniques in the field of forensic anthropology in the United States are constantly being reanalyzed and restructured based on the changing demographics of the population, especially with the arrival of individuals from Latin America (Ennis et al., 2011). Recent samples of American Black and White individuals were included in the Mahalanobis distance (D2) and canonical discriminant function analyses in place of the ancestral proxy groups to determine the craniometric relationship of the groups within the United States. The results show that the Mexico and Guatemala samples are the most similar (D2=2.624), followed by the Cuba and American Black samples (D2=3.296) and the Puerto Rico and American White samples (D2=4.317), which each cluster together in pairs. These results reflect the population histories that took place during colonialism, with the largest amount of slave trade occurring in Cuba over the other two countries. From an applied perspective, clarification is needed in the biological definition of Hispanic and the degree of heterogeneity in each social group, as well as the relationship among groups, in order to accurately develop techniques in forensic anthropology for human identification.

The temporal and spatial variability in wind speed and direction was investigated in a study of the mesoscale wind fields in the Canberra region. The statistical description of the winds was based on twelve months of three-hourly data at seventeen sites obtained in a joint program carried out by the Division of Land Use Research, CSIRO, the National Capital Development Commission, and the Bureau of Meteorology. The statistical analysis proceeded in stages. The first two stages were concerned with the determination and examination of averages and measures of dipersion. Information on the temporal variability in regional wind, defined as the average of the winds at the seventeen collection sites, provided the first insight into the important determinants of winds in the region. The data were then categorized on the basis of the information thus obtained, and the averages over time for each site were analysed in each category. The variation between sites revealed the extent of the spatial variability in the region. For each category, for each site, there were perturbations around the average state, and in the last stage of the study, the analysis examined how the perturbations were related across sites using correlation coefficients. Generalized Procrustes Analysis was used, followed by the extensive use of cluster analysis. Linear modelling techniques were used at all stages of the study, not only for wind speed, but also for wind direction which is an angular variate and thus required different modelling procedures. The models related the variables of interest to terrain features such as position, elevation and surface roughness. These models allowed an informed judgement to be made on the likelihood of accurately estimating the winds at other locations in the region using interpolation techniques.

Découper, a priori et de façon précise, les séquences en domaines est d'une grande importance dans le champ de la biologie, notamment pour optimiser les études de génomique structurale et de génomique fonctionnelle. Différentes approches basées sur la composition en acides aminés, la complexité de la séquence ou la construction de modèles 3D ab initio, ont été développées par le passé. Nous proposons, dans le cadre de ce travail, une approche nouvelle et originale pour le découpage automatique et sensible des séquences protéiques en domaines structurés distincts par exploitation de leur texture. Cette approche bénéficie de l'information de voisinage 2D apportée par la méthodologie « Hydrophobic Cluster Analysis » (HCA). La distribution des différentes catégories d'amas hydrophobes, tels que définis par l'intermédiaire de HCA, ainsi que l'analyse de leurs caractéristiques en termes de structures secondaires, permettent d'appréhender de façon différenciée les textures des régions globulaires, non globulaires et/ou désordonnées, répétitives, passages membranaires isolés ou multiples.... L'approche développée, DomHCA, permet in fine de segmenter une séquence protéique en une série de régions et sous-régions caractérisées par des textures précises, segmentation qui, appliquée à l'échelle des génomes, autorise une comparaison rapide et originale de l'ensemble des séquences. Une des applications concerne les séquences du génome de Plasmodium falciparum qui, par leurs fortes proportions en acides aminés N et K, rendent les méthodes classiques de détection de similarité peu efficaces.

<p>The present research intended to examine the relationship between childhood stable peer status and adjustment in midadolescence for both genders, and adjustment in early and middle adulthood for women. One-year stably peer rejected, popular, and average boys and girls were identified by an age 10 and age 11 sociometric classification procedure using positive nominations and rank-ordering. These groups were examined in midadolescence. Findings indicated that stable peer rejection in childhood was associated with negative school adjustment and problems in peer relations in adolescence for both genders, and that many rejected boys were school dropouts. However, rejected children did not associate with deviant peers or show more antisocial behavior than their counterparts. For the adulthood follow-up, cluster analysis using LICUR was applied on rank-ordering data from age 10 and age 13 in order to identify 3-year stably rejected, popular, and average groups of girls. A methodological comparison with a standard sociometric method showed that the applied cluster analysis seems to be a useful additional tool in the arsenal of sociometric classification methods. Furthermore, one seems to arrive at larger stable peer status groups with this method than with other sociometric classification methods. The longitudinal follow-up into adulthood showed that rejected girls were at increased risk for criminal offending and alcohol abuse in young adulthood. Childhood aggressive behavior explained the significant association between peer rejection and criminality. There were no significant differences between the stable peer status clusters in the midadulthood adjustment areas of social relations, health, occupation, and subjective well-being, except that popular girls had achieved more successful vocational careers (which in its turn was explained by their higher academic achievement in childhood). Constraints and implications for future research were discussed.</p>

Die Arbeit geht der Frage nach, ob man die Steuerverwaltung in Polen als europäische Verwaltung bezeichnen kann. Es werden drei Aspekte vertiefend untersucht: 1.Verortung der polnischen Steuerverwaltung in der OECD und ausgewählten Nicht-OECD-Ländern mittels einer Clusteranalyse auf Grundlage verschiedener Daten zum Aufbau, Aufgabenprofil und zur Performanz unter gleichzeitiger Beachtung der möglichen Abzeichnung eines europäischen Steuerverwaltungsraums; 2.Verbreitung des CAF in den Steuerverwaltungen der MOE-8, insbesondere in Polen, als vom EUPAN unterstütztes Qualitätsmanagementsystem, das geeignet erscheint, die Entstehung eines gemeinsamen europäischen Qualitätsverständnisses zu fördern; 3.Wahrnehmung der polnischen Steuerverwaltung durch deutsche Finanzbeamte erhoben mit Hilfe eines semantischen Differentials. Die Clusteranalyse ergibt keinen Hinweis auf einen einheitlichen europäischen Steuerverwaltungsraum in Abgrenzung von den übrigen einbezogenen Staaten. Polen fällt nicht als Ausreißer auf und weist Ähnlichkeiten zu anderen europäischen Ländern auf. In Steuerverwaltungen lässt sich das CAF so gut wie gar nicht finden. Polen bildet in der Hinsicht eine Ausnahme. Allerdings befindet sich die polnische Steuerverwaltung auf einem europäischen Weg, den andere Sektoren der Verwaltung (auch in MOE-8) bereits vielfach beschritten haben. Aus der Untersuchung des Images der polnischen Steuerverwaltung bei deutschen Finanzbeamten geht die Abwesenheit starker negativer Stereotype hervor. Die Einschätzungen sind sehr zurückhaltend in der Nähe des Mittelwertes zwischen den beiden Polen des semantischen Differentials. Das vorläufige Ergebnis lautet: Die Steuerverwaltung in Polen ist eine europäische Verwaltung. / This thesis discusses the question, if the Polish tax administration can be called a European administration. Three aspects are analysed: 1.Placement of the Polish tax administration among OECD and selected non-OECD countries by means of a cluster analysis based on various data concerning structure, tasks and performance with special attention to the emergence of a European administrative space of tax administrations; 2.Spread of the CAF among the tax administrations of CEE-8, especially in Poland, as quality management system supported by the EUPAN, that seems suitable to enhance the emergence of a common European unterstanding of quality; 3.Perception of the Polish tax administration by German tax collectors gathered with a semantic differential. The cluster analysis does not hint at a uniform European administrative space of tax administrations separated from the other included countries. Poland does not stand out as an outlier and shows similarities to other European countries. Hardly can the CAF be found in tax administrations. Poland is an exception. But the Polish tax administration is on a European path, which the other sectors of administration (also in CEE-8) have already followed in many cases. The absence of strong negative stereotypes among German tax collectors is a result of the analysis of the image of the Polish tax administration. The assessment is diffident near the mean value between the two poles of the semantic differential. The preliminary result is: The Polish tax administration is a European administration.