In this thesis I study two fields of empirical finance: market integration and economic forecasting. The first two chapters focus on studying regional integration of Mexican and U.S. equity markets. In the third chapter, I propose the use of the daily term structure of interest rates to forecast inflation. Each chapter is a free-standing essay that constitutes a contribution to the field of empirical finance and economic forecasting. In Chapter 1, I study the ability of multi-factor asset pricing models to explain the unconditional and conditional cross-section of expected returns in Mexico. Two sets of factors, local and foreign factors, are evaluated consistent with the hypotheses of segmentation and of integration of the international finance literature. Only one variable, the Mexican U.S. exchange rate, appears in the list of both foreign and local factors. Empirical evidence suggests that the foreign factors do a better job explaining the cross-section of returns in Mexico in both the unconditional and conditional versions of the model. This evidence provides some suggestive support for the hypothesis of integration of the Mexican stock exchange to the U.S. market. In Chapter 2, I study further the integration between Mexico and U.S. equity markets. Based on the result from chapter 1, I assume that the Fama and French factors are the mimicking portfolios of the underlying risk factors in both countries. Market integration implies the same prices of risk in both countries. I evaluate the performance of the asset pricing model under the hypothesis of segmentation (country dependent risk rewards) and integration over the 1990-2004 period. The results indicate a higher degree of integration at the end of the sample period. However, the degree of integration exhibits wide swings that are related to both local and global events. At the same time, the limitations that arise in empirical asset pricing methodologies with emerging market data are evident. The data set is short in length, has missing observations, and includes data from thinly traded securities. Finally, Chapter 3, coauthored with John Maheu and Alex Maynard, studies the ability of daily spreads at different maturities to forecast inflation. Many pricing models imply that nominal interest rates contain information on inflation expectations. This has lead to a large empirical literature that investigates the use of interest rates as predictors of future inflation. Most of these focus on the Fisher hypothesis in which the interest rate maturity matches the inflation horizon. In general, forecast improvements have been modest. Rather than use only monthly interest rates that match the maturity of inflation, this chapter advocates using the whole term structure of daily interest rates and their lagged values to forecast monthly inflation. Principle component methods are employed to combine information from interest rates across both the term structure and time series dimensions. Robust forecasting improvements are found as compared to the Fisher hypothesis and autoregressive benchmarks.

Antibiotics are an important method for protecting human health. Unfortunately, the development of antibiotic resistance has decreased the effectiveness of antibiotics in treating disease and preventing deaths associated with bacterial infection. The objective of this dissertation research was to gain a better understanding of anthropogenic influences on occurrence of tetracycline resistance and use of traditional disinfection methods for the reduction of tetracycline resistant bacteria and genes. Culture based and molecular methods were used to evaluate the occurrence of tetracycline resistance in a rapidly urbanizing watershed, identify the dominant resistant organisms and resistance genes in the watershed, and evaluate the use of UV and chlorine to reduce the concentration of resistant bacteria and resistance genes. Results from this research showed that tetracycline resistance was prevalent and is maintained in this study area. Several bacterial species (Aeromonas, Acinetobacter, Chryseobacterium, E. coli, Pseudomonas, and Serratia) made up the resistant population. The results also indicated that tet(W) was the major resistance gene in this watershed and that a majority of the resistant bacteria were capable of transferring their resistance. Landuse did not cause a difference in occurrence of resistant bacteria or resistance genes which suggests that a rapidly urbanizing watershed could experience resistance. It was also identified that environmental media (sediment and water) influence the occurrence and prevalence of resistant bacteria and resistance genes. The results indicate that streambed sediment may act as a reservoir for resistance and resistance might be transported in the water. Finally, the results showed that neither UV nor chlorine disinfection were effective in reducing tet(W) concentrations though the results varied greatly among species. Results from this research indicate that preventing the occurrence and distribution of resistance gene in the environment is difficult, and resistance will most likely be maintained. Therefore, in order to prevent the spread of antibiotic resistance, it will be important to prevent antibiotic resistance from becoming established in the environment. This can be done by educating the public about the importance of misusing and mismanaging antibiotics. Additionally, classifying antibiotics for either human or veterinary use may help slow the development of resistance. This should prevent clinically important antibiotics from being used in sub-therapeutic doses, which could decrease the selective pressure in the environment. Also clinically relevant bacteria can be prevented from interacting with resistant bacteria in the environment by disinfecting human waste.

The enteric pathogen Escherichia albertii represents an emerging food safety challenge. It has been mistakenly identified as Hafnia alvei, Shigella, or as a member of the Enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC). Isolates of certain strains of the organism are known to possess genes encoding pathogenesis factors capable of inducing attaching/effacing (A/E) lesions, cytolethal distending toxin and a variant Shiga toxin. The pathogen has been isolated from infants and adults and has been identified as a causative agent from an outbreak of foodborne disease occurring in an industrialized nation. Recent reports have detailed the ability of this pathogen to survive on ground beef and to resist several classes of therapeutic antibiotics. The objectives of this study were to: (i) determine the efficacy of E. albertii isolates to survive lactic acid exposure as a function of solution pH, and (ii) verify its inactivation in ground beef according to the USDA recommendations for in-home preparation. Rifampicin resistant (RifR) isolates of E. albertii (ATCC 9194, 19982, 10457) were obtained according to published methods. Thermal resistance of parent and RifR isolates were compared in vitro at 55 °C to confirm no significant differences in tolerance to heat as a result of antibiotic resistance capacity. Tolerance to food grade lactic acid (Purac, Olathe, KS) (3.0% w/v) at differing pH levels (3.0, 4.0, 5.0, 7.0) was examined in physiological saline at 35 °C. Finally, ground beef patties (80% lean) inoculated with individual RifR isolates were cooked to internal temperatures of 62, 71, or 76 °C to determine resistance of different internal temperatures. Experiments comparing the in vitro tolerances of parent and RifR E. albertii isolates indicated no differences between parent and mutant with regards to heat and lactic acid challenge. E. albertii inactivation in lactic acid increased as the pH of the solution was decreased; maximum reduction at pH 3.0 was at 30 min and maximum reduction for pH 4.0 at 2.5 hours. Changes in populations of E. albertii at pH 5.0 were not different than that at pH 7.0. Cooking of beef to 62 °C internal temperature produced reductions of all RifR isolates to non-detectable levels.

Universiẗat der Bundeswehr, Diss., 2006--München.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Oregon State University, 2008. / Printout. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 122-129). Also available on the World Wide Web.

Thesis (Ph. D. in Sociology)--Vanderbilt University, May 2008. / Title from title screen. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.B.S.)--Multnomah Biblical Seminary, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 93-98).

Thesis (M.A.)--Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, 2006. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 148-154).

Thesis (M.A.B.S.)--Multnomah Biblical Seminary, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 93-98).

Thesis (Th. M.)--Talbot School of Theology, Biola University, 2008. / Description based on Print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 128-136).