Purpose – The financial systems in many emerging countries are still impacted by the devastating effect of the 2008 financial crisis which created a massive disaster in the global economy. The banking sector needs appropriate quantitative techniques to assess its financial soundness, strengths and weaknesses. This research aims to explore, empirically assess and analyze the financial soundness of the banking sector in Kazakhstan. It also examines the prediction of financial unsoundness at an individual bank level using PCA, cluster, MDA, logit and probit analyses. Design/Methodology/Approach – A cluster analysis, in combination with principal component analysis (PCA), was utilized as a classification technique. It groups sound and unsound banks in Kazakhstan's banking sector by examining various financial ratios. Cluster analysis was run on a sample of 34 commercial banks on 1st January, 2008 and 37 commercial banks on 1st January, 2014 to test the ability of this technique to detect unsound banks before they fail. Then, Altman Z” and EM Score models were tested and re-estimated and the MDA, logit and probit models were constructed on a sample of 12 Kazakhstan banks during the period between 1st January, 2008 and 1st January, 2014. The sample consists of 6 sound and 6 unsound banks and accounts for 81.3% of the total assets of the Kazakhstan banking sector in 2014. These statistical methods used various financial variables to represent capital adequacy, asset quality, management, earnings and liquidity. Last but not least, the MDA, logit and probit models were systematically combined together to construct an integrated model to predict bank financial unsoundness. Findings – First of all, results from Chapter 3 indicate that cluster analysis is able to identify the structure of the Kazakh banking sector by the degree of financial soundness. Secondly, based on the findings in the second empirical chapter, the tested and re-estimated Altman models show a modest ability to predict bank financial unsoundness in Kazakhstan. Thirdly, the MDA, logit and probit models show high predictive accuracy in excess of 80%. Finally, the model that integrated the MDA, logit and probit types presents superior predictability with lower Type I errors. Practical Implications – The results of this research are of interest to supervisory and regulatory bodies. The models can be used as a reliable and effective tool, particularly the cluster based methodology for assessing the degree of financial soundness in the banking sector and the integrated model for predicting the financial unsoundness of banks. Originality/Value – This study is the first to employ a cluster-based methodology to assess financial soundness in the Kazakh banking sector. In addition, the integrated model can be used as a promising technique for evaluating the financial unsoundness of banks in terms of predictive accuracy and robustness. Importance – Assessing the financial soundness of the Kazakh banking system is of particular importance as the World Bank has ranked Kazakhstan as leading the world for the volume of non-performing credits in the total number of loans granted in 2012. It is one of the first academic studies carried out on Kazakhstan banks which comprehensively evaluate the financial soundness of banks. It is anticipated that the findings of the current study will provide useful lessons for developing and transition countries during periods of financial turmoil.

Glucocorticoids (GCs) are a class of steroid hormone that play essential roles in development, glucose homeostasis, and reducing inflammation. Clinically, GCs are potent anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive agents used to treat a variety of diseases. However, the therapeutic benefit of GCs is negatively impacted by the induction of severe side effects. In this thesis, I present two studies that have contributed to the understanding of the non-genomic actions of GCs. GCs inhibit cell migration by a non-transcriptional pathway involving HDAC6: A negative side effect of GC therapy is impaired wound healing which is ascribed to inhibited cell migration. Using live-cell microscopy, I show that GCs inhibit cell migration within 30 minutes of administration. GCs alter the dynamics of the microtubule network through rapid induction of tubulin acetylation (by inhibition of HDAC6) which increases microtubule stability and slows cell movement. The inhibitory effect of GCs on cell migration is reversed by overexpressing HDAC6. Using quantitative imaging, I identified a rapid ligand-dependent association of the GR and HDAC6 within the cytoplasm that is absent in the nucleus. However, a very small proportion of HDAC6 enters the nucleus post-GC treatment, suggesting that HDAC6 accompanies the GR during nuclear translocation. This study demonstrates that GCs rapidly inhibit cell migration by a non-transcriptional mechanism involving HDAC6. Investigating the rapid effects of GCs on the phosphoproteome: Non-steroidal GCs are useful tool compounds to dissect glucocorticoid receptor (GR) activity. Here, I investigated the early, rapid effect of GCs on the phosphoproteome of A549 cells using SILAC-based phosphoproteomics. A consistent spectrum of phosphoproteins was differentially regulated by GC within 10 minutes of administration, notably including regulators of RNA polymerase II, chromatin remodifying proteins, transcription factors, cytoskeletal modifiers, regulators of intracellular calcium signalling and endocytosis. These phosphoproteins were validated by western blotting. This study shows a clear early effect of GCs on the phosphoproteome with implications for non-specific, non-transcriptional activity of GCs.

The Earth’s oblique rotation results in changes in light and temperature across the day and time of year. Living organisms evolved rhythmic behaviours to anticipate these changes and execute appropriate responses at particular times. The current paradigm for the biological clocks in several branches of life is an underlying biochemical oscillator mainly composed by a network of repressive transcription factors. The slow decay in their activity is fundamental for generating anticipatory dynamics. Interestingly, these dynamics can be well appreciated when the biological system is left under constant environmental conditions, where oscillation of several physiological readouts persists with a period close to 24 hours, hence the term “circadian clocks”, circa=around dian=day. In plants the model species Arabidopsis thaliana has served as an invaluable tool for analysing the genetics, biochemical, developmental, and physiological effects of the oscillator. Many of these experimental results have been integrated in mechanistic and mathematical theories for the circadian oscillator. These models predict the timing of gene expression and protein presence in several genetic backgrounds and photoperiodic conditions. The aim of this work is the introduction of a correct mass scale for both the RNA transcript and protein variables of the clock models. The new mass scale is first introduced using published RNA data in absolute units, from qRT-PCR. This required reinterpreting several assumptions of an established clock model (P2011), resulting in an updated version named U2017. I evaluate the performance of the U2017 model in using data in absolute mass units, for the first time for this clock system. Introducing absolute units for the protein variables takes place by generating hypothetical protein data from the existing qRT-PCR data and comparing a data-driven model with western blot data from the literature. I explore the consequences of these predicted protein numbers for the model’s dynamics. The process required a meta-analysis of plant parameter values and genomic information, to interpret the biological relevance of the updated protein parameters. The predicted protein amounts justify, for example, the revised treatment of the Evening Complex in the U2017 model, compared to P2011. The difficulties of introducing absolute units for the protein components are discussed and components for experimental quantification are proposed. Validating the protein predictions required a new methodology for absolute quantification. The methodology is based on translational fusions with a luciferase reporter than has been little used in plants, NanoLUC. Firstly, the characterisation of NanoLUC as a new circadian reporter was explored using the clock gene BOA. The results show that this new system is a robust, sensitive and automatable approach for addressing quantitative biology questions. I selected five clock proteins CCA1, LHY, PRR7, TOC1 and LUX for absolute quantification using the new NanoLUC methodology. Functionality of translation fusions with NanoLUC was assessed by complementation experiments. The closest complementing line for each gene was selected to generate protein time series data. Absolute protein quantities were determined by generation of calibration curves using a recombinant NanoLUC standard. The developed methodology allows absolute quantification comparable to the calibrated qRT-PCR data. These experimental results test the predicted protein amounts and represent a technical resource to understand protein dynamics of Arabidopsis’ circadian oscillator quantitatively. The new experimental, meta-analysis and modelling results in absolute units allows future researchers to incorporate further, quantitative biochemical data.

This thesis is primarily focused on forthcoming regulatory concept Solvency II, which is valid for all member states of the European Union in insurance industry. In the first part of the work the term solvency is defined and actual mode of its reporting called Solvency I with its basic shortcomings are introduced. The second part describes the forthcoming new concept called Solvency II, its aims, three pillars on which it stands on and also the Lamfalussy Legislative Model according to which it is created. Then the fundamental risks endangering the insurance companies and the timetable of the Solvency II implementation are explained. The analysis of five Quantitative Impact Studies focused on impacts of the Solvency II concept makes the finish of the work.

Infectious Pancreatic Necrosis (IPN), due to infection with the IPN virus (IPNv), continues to cause heavy mortalities and is endemic across the major Atlantic salmon farming regions of the world. Prevalances of 0.3-0.8 or more at the freshwater stage and 0.05 to 0.3 in the seawater phase of production are typical. Partially effective injectable vaccines are available against seawater IPN but biosecurity measures remain the main methods of control. To explore the feasibility of selecting salmon for resistance to IPN, a selective breeding program was initiated in 1996, including a series of field and experimental trials challenging known full-sib families with IPNv. A total of 404,723 fish faced IPNv challenge (376,541 seawater and 28,182 freshwater) covering 14 years and 17 separate locations across 7 sites. Mortalities and survivors following IPN challenge were counted by full-sib family and analysed as binomial data (alive / dead). Initial heritabilities were obtained from expressions based on the variance and covariance of full-sib family means for the 2001 year-group, indicating heritabilities (h2) of 0.16, range 0.08 to 0.24, and genetic correlations (rg) between replicate families of 0.71 to 0.78. These results were then confirmed by residual maximum likelihood across all seawater challenged data (year-groups 1997-2003), indicating a h2 of 0.43 (s.e.0.02) across all sites, range 0.06 to 0.40 for individual sites, and a range of rg between replicates of 0.70 to 0.87 (s.e. approx 0.05). To accommodate datasets and pedigrees approaching half a million individually identified fish, an implementation of the Reduced Animal model (RAM) was used to obtain these estimates. A similar level of genetic variation for resistance to freshwater IPN (year-groups 2005-2009) was confirmed with a h2 of 0.49, (s.e. 0.03), range 0.31 to 0.59, and rg between replicates ( 0.80 to 0.95, s.e. approx 0.05), using an Individual Animal Model. When all the data were analysed together, assuming seawater and freshwater survival to be the same trait, the heritability increased to 0.67, (s.e. 0.02). On testing this assumption, the genetic correlation between freshwater and seawater survival was found to be 0.68 s.e. 0.09. Both these pooled estimates account better than those for the individual site estimates, for the known selection of superior families that was incorporated at the earliest opportunity (2001) into the selective breeding program. To further investigate if there were favourable or antagonistic relationships operating between traits under active selection, genetic correlations between IPN mortality and a range of performance and harvest traits were obtained. When restricting the harvest data to year-groups where the harvested fish had not experienced an IPN event (2003 for seawater IPN, 2005 for freshwater IPN) : fish length and flesh colour just reached significance with seawater IPN (0.27 to 0.53. s.e. 0.14), while only harvest weight (0.30 s.e 0.11) attained significance with freshwater IPN mortality. All these correlations were antagonistic. When all the data were combined, (ie both IPN and harvest events taken from all yeargroups) these became non-significant. Taken as a whole, these results indicate that selecting salmon for resistance to both seawater and freshwater IPN challenge certainly is feasible, and that adverse effects on selection for other important production traits is not expected. How these medium to high heritabilities relate to the discovery of a major QTL for IPN resistance segregating in these populations, reported in a parallel scheme of work but based on a sub-set of the same families, is discussed.

This thesis explores the genetic characterization of the mechanisms underlying complex traits in chicken through the use and development of bioinformatics tools. The characterization of quantitative trait loci controlling complex traits has proven to be very challenging. This thesis comprises the study of experimental designs, annotation procedures and functional analyses. These represent some of the main ‘bottlenecks’ involved in the integration of QTLs with the biological interpretation of high-throughput technologies. The thesis begins with an investigation of the bioinformatics tools and procedures available for genome research, briefly reviewing microarray technology and commonly applied experimental designs. A targeted experimental design based on the concept of genetical genomics is then presented and applied in order to study a known functional QTL responsible for chicken body weight. This approach contrasts the gene expression levels of two alternative QTL genotypes, hence narrowing the QTL-phenotype gap, and, giving a direct quantification of the link between the genotypes and the genetic responses. Potential candidate genes responsible for the chicken body weight QTL are identified by using the location of the genes, their expression and biological significance. In order to deal with the multiple sources of information and exploit the data effectively, a systematic approach and a relational database were developed to improve the annotation of the probes of the ARK-Genomics G. gallus 13K v4.0 cDNA array utilized on the experiment. To follow up the investigation of the targeted genetical genomics study, a detailed functional analysis is performed on the dataset. The aim is to identify the downstream effects through the identification of functional variation found in pathways, and secondly to achieve a further characterization of potential candidate genes by using comparative genomics and sequence analyses. Finally the investigation of the body weight QTL syntenic regions and their reported QTLs are presented.

North American histories of homelessness have focused upon the specific image of the “tramp.” Exemplified by Charlie Chaplin, Jack London, and various other popular representations in a variety of media formats, the tramp, hobo or bindlestiff is a classic North American symbol. This “tramp” is often represented as a young, white, heteronormative man, and many histories of homelessness focus upon subjects like him. However, newly accessible police, charity and census materials suggest the early twentieth century homeless population in the Pacific Northwest was more racially and sexually diverse than previously thought. Using a Gramscian liberal order framework theory, I argue that the tramp became a North American liberal ideological icon in response to a growing tension between the needs of capital for a free moving body of labourers and the growing panoptic state. By breaking down the tramp mythos and offering a more accurate image of turn of the century homeless people, we can see the ways liberal ideology has been twisted to justify incarceration, harassment, and exclusion. / Graduate / 2019-08-24

abstract: To make meaningful comparisons on a construct of interest across groups or over time, measurement invariance needs to exist for at least a subset of the observed variables that define the construct. Often, chi-square difference tests are used to test for measurement invariance. However, these statistics are affected by sample size such that larger sample sizes are associated with a greater prevalence of significant tests. Thus, using other measures of non-invariance to aid in the decision process would be beneficial. For this dissertation project, I proposed four new effect size measures of measurement non-invariance and analyzed a Monte Carlo simulation study to evaluate their properties and behavior in addition to the properties and behavior of an already existing effect size measure of non-invariance. The effect size measures were evaluated based on bias, variability, and consistency. Additionally, the factors that affected the value of the effect size measures were analyzed. All studied effect sizes were consistent, but three were biased under certain conditions. Further work is needed to establish benchmarks for the unbiased effect sizes. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Psychology 2019

PART 1: Thirty-one medicinal plant species from Hawaii, Morocco, and the Sonoran Desert, USA have been shown in past studies to be highly inhibitory to pathogenic bacteria, fungi, and certain cancer cell lines. However, none were tested for antiviral activity. Acetone and methanol extracts from these species were bio-assayed for antiviral activity against herpes simplex virus types 1 and 2 (HSV 1 and HSV 2) and for cytotoxicity to the Vero C1008 cell line. Extracts from these species were tested in vitro for antiviral activity using an immunoperoxidase mini-plaque reduction assay to detect viral structural protein synthesis. Sulforhodamine B and neutral red assays were used to qualitatively and quantitatively assess the cytotoxicity of extracts to C1008 cells, and to compute a 50% cytotoxic concentration (CC50) using a dose response curve. Eight of the 31 plant species assayed showed significant antiviral activity against herpes simplex virus types 1 and 2. The acetone extract of Kalanchoe pinnata Pers. (Crassulaceae) produced the most promising results with an IC50 of 0.025 mg/ml and a CC50 of 1.25 mg/ml yielding a therapeutic index of 50. Additionally, this extract reduced plaque numbers to zero or near zero at a concentration of 0.1 mg/ml when added 30 min before and up to 8 h post infection. Further tests were performed on the K. pinnata extract in pursuit of the mechanisms of observed antiviral properties. Quantitative PCR was used to determine HSV susceptibility to the acetone extract. Antiviral mechanisms were investigated by measuring the reduction of viral DNA at different time points post infection and by measuring the reduction of viral RNA transcripts for five specific genes: alpha gene UL54, beta genes UL23 and UL30, and gamma genes US4 and UL17. Examination of transcript number found a significant decrease in viral DNA replication and early and late gene transcription when infected cells were exposed to K. pinnata suggesting post entry events were blocked by extract.PART 2: The professional development curriculum was written for the Alpine School District and will offer teachers the opportunity to develop and enhance skills for effective science teaching emphasizing molecular biology and microbiology disciplines. The course begins with four assumptions about the nature of secondary science in-service. First, the understandings and abilities required to be a masterful teacher of science are not static. Second, science content increases and changes, and a teacher's understanding in science must keep pace. Third, knowledge about the process of learning is continually developing, requiring teachers to stay informed. And fourth, we live in a changing society that deeply influences events in schools; social changes affect students as they come to school and affect what they need to carry away with them. While the main intent of this course is to improve the knowledge base for secondary life science teachers in the microbiology and molecular biology disciplines, it is expected that teachers will return to their own classroom and use the materials and ideas they have acquired from this course. Included in the concepts stressed are: 1) the historical routes of molecular biology, (2) biotechnology and its influence in society, (3) the relationship between viruses and evolution, order and organization, (4) the immune system and examples that stress structure and function, change and constancy, and (5) the personal and social impact of pathogens. Teachers are introduced to new information in virology, molecular biology and immunology using case studies, practicing scientific inquiry, and recognizing the unifying themes of biology in microbiology and molecular biology.

The purpose of this study was to investigate current practices used by clinicians when diagnosing children with AD/HD as well as to explore possible relationships between practices, professional disciplines, opinions, and theoretical leanings.;The study utilized a researcher designed questionnaire mailed to licensed Psychiatrists, Pediatricians, Clinical Psychologists, and Counselors in Virginia. The sample included 274 professionals.;Hypotheses examined relationships between professional discipline and use of assessment methodologies, consultation practices, and classification system preferences, as well as relationships between opinions about classification and assessment of AD/HD and practitioners' opinions about assessment practices.;It was found that physical examination was the only variable with any practical significance that was able to differentiate between the professional disciplines with regard to their preferences and utilization of specific methodologies for the assessment of AD/HD. Results revealed a negative relationship between one's confidence in assessing AD/HD and a practitioner's use of an interview in an assessment.;It was also found that practitioners were no more likely to engage in consultation with other professionals from their respective disciplines than from other disciplines, (2) those professionals who subscribed to a categorical system of classification were no more likely to utilize clinical techniques in assessment while those who subscribed to a dimensional model showed no preference for normative tools, and (3) physicians were no more likely than mental health professionals to subscribe to a categorical system of classification, while mental health professionals showed no preference towards a dimensional model of classification.