<p>This thesis examines causal inference related topics involving intermediate variables, and uses Bayesian methodologies to advance analysis capabilities in these areas. First, joint modeling of outcome variables with intermediate variables is considered in the context of birthweight and censored gestational age analyses. The proposed methodology provides improved inference capabilities for birthweight and gestational age, avoids post-treatment selection bias problems associated with conditional on gestational age analyses, and appropriately assesses the uncertainty associated with censored gestational age. Second, principal stratification methodology for settings where causal inference analysis requires appropriate adjustment of intermediate variables is extended to observational settings with binary treatments and binary intermediate variables. This is done by uncovering the structural pathways of unmeasured confounding affecting principal stratification analysis and directly incorporating them into a model based sensitivity analysis methodology. Demonstration focuses on a study of the efficacy of influenza vaccination in elderly populations. Third, flexibility, interpretability, and capability of principal stratification analyses for continuous intermediate variables are improved by replacing the current fully parametric methodologies with semiparametric Bayesian alternatives. This presentation is one of the first uses of nonparametric techniques in causal inference analysis,</p><p>and opens a connection between these two fields. Demonstration focuses on two studies, one involving a cholesterol reduction drug, and one examine the effect of physical activity on cardiovascular disease as it relates to body mass index.</p> / Dissertation

The Strategies of the firms in Patent are not only about the future, but also forming the barrier for competitor. For the sake, we should develop the patent strategies and technological position.This study goes to the discussion of technological position by the patent multivariate analysis, and suggest the patent strategy by the difference within and between the groups which were clustered from IC design companies. This study selects twenty gobal IC design companies,which are always on the top25 of the industry.In case1 ,we wonder figure out the technological postion and the path of technology shift.In case2,we can recognize the technological position as industrial position. In case 1, we got four clusters by cluster analysis.Cluster 1 is called SpecialistII,and cluster2 is called Strong Generalist, and cluster 3 is called Specialist I,and cluster 4 is called Weak Generalist. For further observation, the firms with technology shift will shift from cluster 1 to cluster 2 in the same direction.Others still maintain the same strategies in their clusters. In case 2 , we also got four clusters by the analysis. Cluster 1 is called Weak Generalist ,and cluster 2 is called Strong Generalist, and cluster 3 is called Specialist I,and cluster 4 is called Specialist III.As financial results , we got homogeneity within a cluster except cluster 4. Performance between clusters, we made and observed the line chart of trend in the selected financial ratio and we used the median of samples within a cluster. In case 2,it seems heterogeneous in ROA and Price-to-book ratio in the chart.In case1,it is also heterogeneous in ROA and price-to-book ratio.It¡¦s significant and positively correlated in R&D productivity(GrossMargin-to-R&D ratio) between others by the correlation coefficient matrix.It seems to be the proxy to the other financial ratio.

The focus of this study was to examine the relationship between principal ethnicity and other chosen demographics (community type of the school, average years of teacher experience, and percent of students qualifying as economically disadvantaged) and student achievement as measured by the Texas Education Agency?s (TEA?s) accountability rating system in predominantly Hispanic public high schools in Texas. The study sought to identify causal factors in relation to campus accountability rating and principal ethnicity in an effort to determine if principal ethnicity had an impact on student achievement in predominantly Hispanic public high schools in Texas. The study examined data obtained from the Texas Education Agency for the 2007-2008 school year. There were 335 schools that met the criteria set forth for the study. The findings of the study stated there was no statistically significant relationship between principal ethnicity and student achievement as measured by the TEA?s accountability system. There were some significant statistical findings in relation to principal ethnicity, accountability rating and indicators of community type of school, years of teacher experience, and percent of students qualifying as economically disadvantaged. Moderate relationships were found between community type and accountability rating and between community type and ethnicity of the principal. There were also significant relationships found between accountability rating and average years of teacher experience as well as principal ethnicity and percent of students qualifying as economically disadvantaged. There was no significant finding between principal ethnicity and average years of teaching experience. There was also no significant finding in relation to accountability rating and percent of students qualifying as economically disadvantaged. The growing number of Hispanic students entering schools is leading to more campuses becoming predominantly Hispanic in student population. The achievement gap between Hispanic students and White students has continued to be an ongoing problem and important issue. The findings of this study show that ethnicity of the principal does not have an impact on student achievement in predominantly Hispanic public high schools in Texas. Hiring administrators should focus on hiring school leaders who possess identified characteristics that lead to improved student achievement.

ABSTRACT The relationships between high ozone events and synoptic weather patterns were investigated based on the meteorological and air-quality data at four monitoring stations in Kaohsiung city during 1997 to 2004 in this study. The PCA (principal component analysis) and correlation studies show that ozone concentration exhibit positive correlations with the ambient temperature and sunshine duration, while negative correlation with the cloud cover. The frequency of high ozone events was highest under the weather patterns of northeast seasonal wind (B1 type), high-pressure system with recirculation (B3 type), high-pressure system with offshore type (B2 type), and in the warm core of approaching front (B4 type), most frequently in autumn, winter, and spring, and least frequently in summer. The above four weather patterns are primarily dominated by the high-pressure system from Mainland China, with relatively cold and dry weather and little rain in Taiwan. Since the high-pressure center is usually located north or northeast of Taiwan during autumn, winter, and spring such that the leeside areas of Central Mountain Ranges in the western coast of Taiwan are prone to high pollution events, particularly when the wind speed is low (< 4m/s) and duration of sunshine is long (> 5.5 hr). Or sometimes the meso-scale wind system, for example, the sea-land breeze or the combined flow caused by the detouring flow from the Henchun Peninsula and northeast wind tends to raise the pollutant concentrations. Keywords¡GHigh ozone event, Synoptic weather pattern, Principal component analysis.

There are three purposes in this thesis. First of all, the thesis examines the market herding behavior of real estates in Taiwan. Second, if herding exists in the markets, what factors cause herding behavior? Finally, how does herding behavior affect market performance? The empirical results show there is no herding evidence in the real estates markets when market moves downward. There are different results between different real estates and periods when market moves upward. There is obvious herding behavior in the pre-sale houses in Taipei City. Herding behavior also exist lag phenomenon. During lag period, there is obvious herding behavior in the pre-sale houses in Taipei when market moves upward. There is weak herding behavior in the other real estates, including pre-sale houses of Taipei County, existing houses and land. We find that macro factors such as money supply, GDP growth rate, saving amount, incoming and micro factors such as market depth and market return in the last period will cause herding behavior. Finally, herding behavior, price volatility and transaction amount volatility have Granger causality. Herding behavior will makes price more efficient and increases transaction.

The purpose of this study is to identify the perceptions of novice and veteran teachers regarding the role of the principal in retaining teachers in the profession. Also, the research investigated whether and to what extent there are differences in the perceptions of novice and veteran teachers on the role of the principal in teacher retention. Participants for the study were selected from 15 elementary schools in an urban school district in the Southwestern part of the United States. The study included 270 novice and veteran elementary teachers who completed a Likert Scale questionnaire consisting of 23 questions. The study revealed that novice and veteran teachers believe principals play a key role in the retention of novice teachers. Specifically, the study revealed that teachers want to know the expectation of principals and their evaluation of them as a novice. In addition, they expect principals to play a major role in providing professional development support for teaching strategies, classroom management, and they expect continuous collaboration and encouragement. The results of the study revealed that there was not a statistically significant difference in the perceptions of the novice and veteran teachers in regards to the role of the principal and teacher retention.

A study of the transformational leardership by principal of junior high school,the organizational citizenship behavior of the teachers and the effectiveness of the schools in Kaohsiung County . Abstract The purpose of this study are¡G(1) to explore the current situation of therelationships among the transformational leardership by principal ofjunior high school, organizational citizenship behavior of the teachers andschool effectiveness. (2) to analyze the different viewpoints on the above threemain topics of teachers from different kinds background.(3) to explore therelationships among the transformational leardership by principal ofjunior high school, organizational citizenship behavior of the teachers andschool effectiveness. (4) to explore the prediction on school effectiveness of thetransformational leardership of principal, the organizational citizenshipbehavior of the teachers. Subjects were sampled from thirty-six junior high schools in Kaohsiung county. Five hundred forty-two copies of formal questionnaires were deliveredto the subject and there were four hundred seventy valid copies.The study toolis ¡§The questionnaire on the relationships among the transformationalleardership of principal, the organizational citizenship behavior of theteachers and school efficacy. The collected data were analyzed by using thestatistical methods of reliability descriptive statistics,T-test,one-way ANOVA,pearson product-moment correlation, canonical correlation and multipleregression(step-wise- regression procedure). According to the result of the data analysis, the main findings are as follows: 1. Teachers¡¦evaluation on the transformational leardership of principal is above nice leave. 2.The whole performance of the Kaohsiung county¡¦s junior high schoolteacher organizational citizenship behavior is good. 3.The whole performance of Kaohsiung county¡¦s junior high school effectiveness is middle-high level. 4.The male, the elder and the administrator have a higher sense of thetransformational leardership of principal. 5. The elder, the senior, the administrator sense more about the organizational citizenship behavior. 6. The male, the elder, the administrator sense more about the schooleffectiveness. 7. Transformational leardership conducted by principal enhancesbetter school effectiveness. 8. The teachers of the Kaohsiung county¡¦s junior high school in the urban areas and large schools sense more about the school effectiveness. 9. ¡§The identifying oneself with the organization¡¨phase in transformationalleardership of principal and the teacher organizational citizenship behavior can best predict school efficacy. The final findings and conclusion in this research could be used as areference for sahool,board of education and researchers to promote practice in operation and future research.

The primary aim of the study was to investigate the relationships between principal transformational leadership, school organization change, and school effectiveness for the elemental and junior schools in Yunlin, Chiayi, and Tainan areas using questionnaire analysis. The samples of 600 teachers were chosen from 59 schools in Yunlin, Chiayi, and Tainan areas by stratified random sampling. There were 479 valid responses from the target teachers. Finally, the data was analyzed using the method of descriptive and inferential statistics, including mean and standard deviation, t-test, oneway ANOVA, Scheff¡¦s method, Pearson¡¦s product-moment correlation, and stepwise multiple regression. The main findings of this study are shown in the following: 1.The score of principal transformational leadership is above the average, of which the intellectual stimulation is relatively better. 2.The score of school organization change is up to the average, of which the revolution management method is relatively high. 3.The score of school effectiveness is at the high level, of which the cognition of community and parents is relatively better. 4.The male, old, senior, and administrative teachers and the teachers in the large schools and elemental schools have higher cognition of principal transformational leadership than the female, young, junior, and general teachers and those in the middle schools and junior schools, correspondingly. 5.The male, old, senior, and administrative teachers and the teachers in the middle schools and elemental schools have higher cognition of school organization change than the female, young, junior, and general teachers and those in the large schools and junior schools, correspondingly. 6.The old, senior, and administrative teachers and the teachers in the large schools, city schools, and elemental schools have higher cognition of school effectiveness than the young, junior, and general teachers and those in the small schools, country schools, and junior schools, correspondingly. 7.The higher the principal transformational leadership, the more the school organization change; the more the school organization change, the higher the school effectiveness. As a result, the higher principal transformational leadership results in the higher school effectiveness. 8.The principal transformational leadership and school organization change can apparently predict the school effectiveness, of which the change management method can best predict the school effectiveness.

No description available.

Thesis (M.S.)--Missouri University of Science and Technology, 2009. / Vita. The entire thesis text is included in file. Title from title screen of thesis/dissertation PDF file (viewed November 25, 2009) Includes bibliographical references.