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Background and Objectives: High-cost health care users (HCU) represent a minority of patients who consume a large proportion of health care resources. Due to their high burden on the healthcare system and internal heterogeneity, a better understanding of various segments of the HCU population is needed. The general objective was to advance our understanding of incident senior HCUs in the Canadian context so that we can advise health policy makers on potential strategies to prevent seniors transitioning to HCU and to identify priorities for further investigation. Methods: A retrospective population-based matched cohort study was conducted using province-wide linked administrative data. The research employed a spectrum of advanced methods to accomplish the general objective, including the method of recycled predictions, random intercept two-part multi-level models, and stratified logistic regression. Results: Total costs attributable to incident senior HCU status accounted for almost one-tenth of the provincial healthcare budget, with prolonged hospitalizations making a major contribution. Unplanned first (index) hospitalizations (IHs) in the incident year were considerably more common among HCUs, with ten conditions accounting for one third of their total costs. A lower risk of IH among HCUs was associated with residence in long-term care (LTC), attachment to a primary care provider, and recent consultation by a geriatrician. Although there was little variation in costs incurred by Ontario seniors for healthcare services they receive, access to the healthcare services varied greatly. The traditional drivers of costs and mortality (e.g., age, sex, health status) played little role in driving the observed variation in HCUs’ outcomes. Conclusions: By answering research questions, this thesis advances our knowledge of the HCU population in Canada. Further exploration of the nature and quality of care that may be associated with HCU conversion and investigation of the regional variation in accessing specific healthcare services is warranted. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / A small group of patients that use the most of healthcare resources are called high-cost users (HCU). HCUs are often seniors. Policy makers need a better understanding of new senior HCUs to be able to prevent seniors from becoming HCU. This study used administrative data and advanced statistical methods. We found that almost one-tenth of the 2013 provincial healthcare budget was spent on new senior HCUs, mainly because of lengthy unplanned hospitalizations. Patients who lived in long-term care, had a primary care provider, or recently visited a geriatrician were less likely to have an unplanned hospitalization. Overall, healthcare costs were distributed equally to Ontario seniors, but access to healthcare services varied greatly. This variation could not be explained by differences in age, sex, or health status. This thesis advances our knowledge of HCUs in Canada. Additional research is needed into care associated with becoming HCU and provincial variation in accessing healthcare.

This paper provides a historical analysis of the desegregation of George Washington High School and Langston High School in Danville, Virginia in 1970. The author focuses on the related desegregation litigation on a national, state, and local level as well as the historical context for desegregation in the Commonwealth of Virginia. In August of 1970, Danville, Virginia embarked on a new era in education as its schools would be totally desegregated. It would no longer operate under the freedom of choice plan that had been in effect since 1965 and permitted African-American parents to send their children to the all-white schools. The school system was to be fully integrated and operating as a unitary system. Using newspaper accounts, correspondence from key figures, and interviews with key people in Danville in 1970, the author addresses four areas of research: (a) What led to the desegregation of schools in Danville, Virginia? (b) Who were the key players in the desegregation movement? (c) How were the community, the students, and the staff prepared for desegregation? and (d) What were the attitudes and the concerns about desegregation? The data was collected and analyzed using qualitative methodology. The constant-comparative method espoused by Maykut and Morehouse was used to analyze the data and Bronfenbrenner's concept of the "nested environment" was the theoetical model used to organize the data. / Ed. D.

A review of research indicates that academic dishonesty is a common occurrence at all levels of education with high school being a significant determinant in whether one will engage in cheating at the college level. Current research is heavily concentrated on cheating at the college level. This study investigated the academic expectations of a high school and the frequency of academic dishonesty as reported by high school principals. Specifically, four research questions were addressed: 1. To what extent are the academic expectations of a high school related to the frequency of academic dishonesty as reported by high school administrators? 2. To what extent is the implementation of an honor code at a high school related to the frequency of academic dishonesty as reported by high school administrators? 3. What do high school administrators perceive as the most important causes of academic dishonesty? 4. To what degree do high school administrators perceive academic dishonesty as an important problem in high schools? This quantitative research study used a sample drawn from public high school administrators (principals or assistant principals) in the Commonwealth of Virginia. A total of 129 participants from a possible 267 public high schools were surveyed. There was no relationship found between the implementation of an honor code and the frequency of academic dishonesty. School administrators perceived the academic expectations of the school and teacher, the lack of an honor code, and the enforcement of an honor code as less likely to be contributing factors to academic dishonesty in comparison to other factors. The main causes for student cheating perceived by the principals were a fear of failure, laziness or procrastination and ease of cheating. Overall, the principals placed less importance upon academic dishonesty in comparison to other disciplinary problems they face at the high school level. / Ph. D.

This thesis is about learning from architecture, it is about teaching design at an early age, and how light and space speak about architecture. It is about teaching design and architecture at the high school level, and the ideas, metaphors and sources of inspirations used to achieve this. Design students require a sense of the sublime, the ability to respond to art and architecture, and challenge to aspire to greatness. Schools of design must teach about nature, the metaphysical and the fragility of mankind, moving away from prior schools of thought including "form follows function" and replacing the traditional teaching of architecture with a more inclusive approach.One way to develop thought processes that lead to inclusivity is through the metaphor. Metaphors are the foundation of the imagination. Strongly developed metaphorical channels are essential to any designer. They offer opportunities to contemplate a proposed work in another light. They inspire the designer to probe new sets of questions and develop new ideas and interpretations. Several metaphors formed the basis of this thesis, "Learning as Light," "A new light every dawn," and "Education by Design," which proposes that twenty?first century design educators rely more greatly on the use of metaphors in their teaching curriculum. Above all, the search for the metaphysical "soul of the building" is and will continue to be the most integral element in the teaching of design and architecture. Art, architecture and archeology are essential elements to a robust design education, for they provide the context for the history, challenges and changes of the field. This thesis proposes a Design and Architecture High School in downtown Washington, a design developed through careful consideration of the elements essential to the transfer of knowledge. / Master of Architecture

Thesis advisor: Shakeeb S.K. Khan / Thesis advisor: Zhijie Z.X. Xiao / Binary choice models can be easily estimated (using, e.g. maximum likelihood estimation) when the distribution of the latent error is known, as in Logit or Probit. In contrast, most estimators with unknown error distribution (e.g., maximum score, maximum rank correlation, or Klein-Spady) are computationally difficult or numerically unstable, making estimation impractical with more than a few regressors. The first chapter proposes an estimator that is convex at each iteration, and so is numerically well behaved even with many regressors and large sample sizes. The proposed estimator, which is root-n consistent and asymptotically normal, is based on batch gradient descent, while using a sieve to estimate the unknown error distribution function. Simulations show that the estimator has lower mean bias and root mean squared error than Klein-Spady estimator. It also requires less time to compute. The second chapter discusses the same estimator in high dimensional setting. The estimator is consistent with rate lower than root-n when the number of regressors grows slower than the number of observations and asymptotic normal when the square of the number of regressors grows slower than the number of observations. Both theory and simulation show that higher learning rate is needed with higher number of regressors. The third chapter provides an application of the proposed estimator to bankruptcy prediction. With more than 20 regressors, the proposed estimator performs better than logistic regression in terms of Area Under the Receiver Operating Characteristics using firm data one year or two years prior to bankruptcy, but worse than logistic regression using firm data three years prior to bankruptcy. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2022. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Economics.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / This study provided an evaluation of a career development program called the Health Education and Careers Network (HECN). Designed for inner city high school students with and without disabilities the program has been in existence since 1991, focusing on preparing students for education or careers in the allied health care industry. The program's overall goal was to increase the rate of positive high school outcomes, in particular for students at risk for high school drop out, unemployment and other negative post-high school outcomes. Based on anecdotal reports, the program appeared to facilitate successful student outcomes. However, no systematic analysis of the outcomes had been conducted. The researcher collected outcome data on 111 students with disabilities who had participated in the program since 1993 and who had left high school since 1995. She disaggregated the data and performed statistical analyses to evaluate whether there were any differences in outcomes based on race or type of disability. Additionally, she used case profiles of six randomly selected students to offer more insights about the complexity of providing transition services to inner city students with disabilities and the kinds of strategies that might be most effective. The analysis revealed that students with serious cognitive impairments had the highest rate of employment as compared to students with other disabilities, and that white students had the highest rate of achieving a certification and employment in an allied health care field as compared to students from other racial groups. Overall, data from the study revealed that students who participated in the program surpassed the local and national rates on the graduation of students with disabilities, and that independent of race or disability, the program's strategies effected positive transition outcomes for all students. / 2999-01-01

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / A high school administrator writes a history of a Boston urban high school of 1000 students. The educational history looks back through 50 years of neighborhood changes, civil rights, school desegregation, busing, bilingual and special education legislation, standards-based reform, and school restructuring. In 1950, Dilmotte High School was an acceptable secondary school; in 2000, the school was on the critical list with the Department ofEducation with low MCAS scores (the state-wide exit test) and the highest dropout rate of any large comprehensive high school in the Commonwealth. The history is reconstructed from document and record searches, alumni surveys, and interviews; the author was a participant-observer in the school for the last 5 years. The history traces six major themes: 1. School demography - changes in enrollments of various racial and ethnic groups, bilingual and special education students, and the struggle for equal education. 2. Buildings and budgets- facilities conditions, improvements, 3. Teaching and learning - including teaching, curriculum, tracking, ability grouping, mainstreaming and inclusion, vocational education, standards, dropout rates, and graduation rates 4. Leadership- changes in educational administration, leadership style, responsibilities and size of the administrative team; professional development, impact of central administration, superintendent, school committee, and state department of education. 5. Partnerships - the evolving nature of partnerships; how partnerships shaped the agenda of the school; government school relationships; parent school relationships. 6. School Culture- changes in school climate, character, ethos, and culture. Analysis is based in part on the conceptual frameworks of Michael Fullan, Karen Seashore Louis and Matthew Miles, and Frederick Hess. Conclusions address the paucity of educational history, the failure to learn from history, changes in educational administration at the secondary school level, the growing engagement of school partners, the value of teamwork and teacher leadership, policy chum, conflicting educational objectives, and the failure of professional development. Effects on school climate and culture are addressed; Dilmotte never reached a culture of achievement. The failure to define core values in education is targeted as a fundamental problem. / 2999-01-01