For the modern dairy cow, advances in genetics and breeding for productivity has resulted in an increasing incidence of health disorders and reduced longevity. One of the most important health problems is lameness, which has led to significant economic, production and welfare consequences. A reduction in lameness will improve the economic future of the dairy industry through increased profitability and decreased welfare-related problems. Although positive attempts have been made by researchers and the industry towards improving lameness, it has remained a persistent ailment for dairy farmers. Further analysis of the genetic and environmental factors influencing lameness is warranted so that selection indices and management practices can be modified leading to improved health and welfare of the dairy cow. Several factors that cause dairy cow lameness have been implicated. I reviewed previous studies on these causative factors as well as the association between lameness, longevity and fertility. It has also been suggested that lameness affects milk production of dairy cows, but reports on the association between lameness and daily milk yield of cows have varied among researchers. Using locomotion score data on 248 cows from the Langhill herd, I investigated the relationship between locomotion score which has a high genetic correlation with lameness and various explanatory variables and also the association between daily milk yield and lameness. The study revealed that the most significant factors affecting locomotion are management regime (high concentrate feed and all year indoor housing; low concentrate feed and outdoors in summer) and time of year when cows are locomotion scored. It also showed that lameness adversely affects the milk yield of later lactation cows, and that high yielding cows are more susceptible to lameness. Housing environment plays a significant role in the health and welfare of dairy cows. With national type evaluation records, I estimated the association between housing systems and lameness-related type traits as well as genetic parameters for the locomotion traits. The analysis indicated that cows kept at pasture had favourable linear and composite type trait scores compared with cows in cubicles, straw yards and slatted floors or loafing yards. Locomotion score had strong genetic and phenotypic correlations with the leg and feet composite. Bone quality, which is a new trait in the UK type classification scheme, was moderately heritable (0.23) and had a moderate and positive genetic association with locomotion and leg and feet composite. This suggests that breeding for flatter, more refined bones could reduce locomotion disorders and help improve the longevity of the dairy cow. Analysis of national data again showed reduced incidence of digital dermatitis (DD) for cows at pasture and those with flatter, more refined bones, higher locomotion score and better leg and feet composite. Estimates of genetic parameters indicated heritable variation of DD among cows and moderate genetic associations between DD and production traits and longevity. Incorporating DD in future selection indices will be useful for increased productive life. Using random regression, I analysed changes in type traits associated with lameness (locomotion, rear legs, side view, foot angle and leg and feet composite) in relation to time (months) that cows had spent in cubicles before being classified. The general trend supported the fact that cubicle housing is unfavourable to these traits. There was significant evidence of a genotype x environment interaction, suggesting variation between bulls in the sensitivity of their daughters to cubicle housing with time.

OVERGROWN discusses the music elements found in the thesis composition of the same name. OVERGROWN was written for soprano solo, flute, bass clarinet, soprano saxophone, baritone saxophone, trumpet, trombone, vibraphone, percussion, cello and double bass. The text was written by Matthew Raymond Smith.

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship of dual enrollment course participation by comparing first-time, full-time traditional community college students who participated in dual enrollment (N=246) to peers (N=986) that did not participate. Dual enrollment participation was defined as taking one or more dual enrollment courses. The population for this study (N=1,232) included first-time, full-time students who graduated from public high schools in the service area of Northeast State Community College over a five year span from 2008 through 2012. Propensity score matching eliminated self-selection bias by controlling for confounding covariates such as parental education, high school GPA, and ACT scores. The major findings of the study included the following: dual enrollment participants (a) were nearly four times less likely to take remediation than non-participants, (b) earned approximately 1 extra credit hour in the first semesters of college, (c) earned higher first semester GPAs, (d) were 2.5 times more likely to graduate in 2 years (100% of degree time) and, (e) were 1.68 times more likely to graduate in 3 years (150% of degree time). The study concluded that dual enrollment benefits community college students in Tennessee, both at the beginning and completion of college. This is a significant justification for the current investment in dual enrollment by the State of Tennessee and for further increasing access to dual enrollment for all students, especially for students that live in rural areas, experience poverty, or are underrepresented in higher education.

This this three-article dissertation sought to explore the potential causal link of students’ collegiate residence with three broad categories of student outcomes. Using data from the Wabash National Study of Liberal Arts Education, each article employed propensity score matching in an effort to reduce selection bias associated with a student’s decision to live on campus. The first manuscript examined academic achievement, retention, four-year graduation, and satisfaction with the college experience and found that living on campus had no direct effect on any of these outcomes. The second manuscript explored the effect of living on campus on students’ overall health, alcohol consumption and binge drinking, smoking behaviors, exercise frequency, and psychological well-being. Findings suggest that living on campus has a positive effect on students’ first-year alcohol consumption, frequency of binge drinking, and exercising behaviors. These findings do not persist beyond the first year. Some conditional effects were uncovered, with a significant interaction between race and campus residence on some outcomes. The final study considered the effect living on campus has on student engagement. Living on campus was found to have a direct effect on positive peer interactions, frequency of interactions with student affairs staff, and co-curricular involvement. Like the second study, conditional analyses were conducted and revealed significant interactions mostly among race and campus residence.

Spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage, the non-traumatic rupture of cerebral blood vessels, is the most devastating form of stroke. The disease is dynamic, unpredictable, and patients can worsen acutely within the first 24 hours secondary to hematoma expansion: re-bleeding of a baseline hemorrhage. Hematoma expansion is a major predictor of mortality and poor long-term outcome. This secondary analysis thesis proposes to advance the current understanding of this phenomenon through three separate research endeavors: 1) a scoping review of hematoma expansion prediction scores, 2) an independent validation of a non-contrast prediction score, and 3) an assessment and revision of the dichotomous definition of hematoma expansion used in clinical trials. These three projects will offer different contributions that will advance the science of intracerebral hemorrhage, a field where treatment options, outcome measures, and basic definitions, are all under active debate.

Objective: To assess the ability of propensity score methods to maintain covariate balance and minimize bias in the estimation of treatment effect in a time-to-event setting. Data Sources: Generated simulation model Study Design: Simulation study Data Collection: 6 scenarios with varying covariate relationships to treatment and outcome with 2 different censoring prevalences Principal Findings: As time lapses, balance achieved at baseline through propensity score methods between treated and untreated groups trends toward imbalance, particularly in settings with high rates of censoring. Furthermore, there is a high degree of variability in the performance of different propensity score models with respect to effect estimation. Conclusions: Caution should be used when incorporating propensity score analysis methods in survival analyses. In these settings, if model over-parameterization is a concern, Cox regression stratified on propensity score matched pairs often provides more accurate conditional treatment effect estimates than those of unstratified matched or IPT weighted Cox regression models.

During the last decade higher education organizations and educational policy makers have substantially increased efforts to incentivize study abroad participation. These efforts are grounded in the longstanding belief that study abroad participation improves intercultural competence - an educational outcome critical in a globalized 21st century economy. Yet decades of evidence that appear to support this claim are repeatedly limited by a series of methodological weaknesses including small homogenous samples, an absence of longitudinal study design, no accounting for potential selection bias, and the lack of controls for potentially confounding demographic and college experience variables. Thus, a major competing explanation for differences found between students who do and do not study abroad continues to be the possibility that these differences existed prior to participation. The current study sought to determine the effect of study abroad on intercultural competence among 1,593 participants of the 2006 cohort of the Wabash National Study on Liberal Arts Education. The Wabash National Study is a longitudinal study of undergraduates that gathered pre- and post-test measures on numerous educational outcomes, an array of institutional and self-reported pre-college characteristics, and a host of college experiences. The current study employed both propensity score matching and covariate adjustment methods to account for pre-college characteristics, college experiences, the selection effect, and the clustered nature of the data to both cross-validate findings and provide guidance for future research. Under such rigorous analytic conditions, this study found that study abroad generated a statistically significant positive effect on intercultural competence; an effect that appears to be general rather than conditional. Moreover, both covariate adjustment and propensity score matching methods generated similar results. In examining the effect of study abroad across the three constituent subscales of the overall measure of intercultural competence, this study found that study abroad influences students' diversity of contact but has no statistically significant effect on relativistic appreciation of cultural differences or comfort with diversity. Finally, the results of this study suggest that the relationship between study abroad and intercultural competence is one of selection and accentuation, holding important implications for postsecondary policy makers, higher education institutions, and college impact scholars.

Observational studies are an indispensable complement to randomized clinical trials (RCT) for comparison of treatment effectiveness. Often RCTs cannot be carried out due to the costs of the trial, ethical questions and rarity of the outcome. When noncompliance and missing data are prevalent, RCTs become more like observational studies. The main problem is to adjust for the selection bias in the observational study. One increasingly used method is propensity-score matching. Compared to traditional multi-covariate matching methods, matching on the propensity score alleviates the curse of dimensionality. It allows investigators to balance multiple covariate distributions between treatment groups by matching on a single score. This thesis focuses on the large sample properties of the matching estimators of the treatment effect. The first part of this thesis deals with problems of the analytic supports of the logit propensity score and various matching methods. The second part of this thesis focuses on the matching estimators of additive and multiplicative treatment effects. We derive the asymptotic order of the biases and asymptotic distributions of the matching estimators. We also derive the large sample variance estimators for the treatment effect estimators. The methods and theoretical results are applied and checked in a series of simulation studies. The third part of this thesis is devoted to a comparison between propensity-score matching and multiple linear regression using simulation.

This thesis suggests improvements, from a strategic perspective, to the practice of scoring projects in public sector organisations. It is argues that current approaches, notably project portfolio managing (PPM), are inadequate for many such organisations, and in fact prone to problems and failure. In particular, present scoring/prioritization approaches in such contexts, largely tend to focus on financial risk/return logic. It is argued that the end result of such a ranking approach is often a non-strategic portfolio project. To address these problems, the candidate proposed the refinement of the scoring approach for project portfolios via the incorporation of Kaplan & Norton's ideas in their Balanced Scorecard (BSC). BSC introduces, apart from purely financial considerations, other 'softer' perspectives (customer, internal business processes, learning and growth) which in combination place a more inclusive emphasis on the vision and strategy of the organisation. In this thesis, it is proposed that the combined PPM and BSC scoring approach amounts to more strategic project selection. Several case studies are conducted to illustrate the merits of the combined PPM/BSC logic. These include case studies in both private and public sector organisations.

<p>Lagen om företagsrekonstruktion infördes den 1 september 1996 och skulle ersätta den gamla ackordslagen. Syftet med den nya lagen var att det skulle bli enklare att rekonstruera krisföretag som bedömdes ha utsikter till en framtida lönsam verksamhet. Genom rekonstruktionsförfarandet får företaget ett rådrum att arbeta med de ekonomiska problemen utan att för tillfället riskera en konkurs. Det har dock visat sig att lagen inte blev den succé många hade hoppats på. Sedan införandet fram till 2006 har endast 1507 företag ansökt om att bli rekonstruerade. Antalet konkurser under samma period uppgick till 88 262, vilket visar på den dåliga genomslagskraft lagen fått. Trots det dåliga genomslag lagen om företagsrekonstruktion har fått, finns lite forskning på området. De få undersökningar som gjorts har mestadels fokuserat på att kartlägga vilka typer av företag som väljer att ansöka om rekonstruktion. Exempelvis vilken organisationsstruktur de har, storlek på företaget, hur länge de har varit verksamma och dess geografiska läge. Genom åren har ett flertal statistiska modeller utvecklats för att kunna predicera en konkurs innan den inträffar. Den mest kända och allmänt vedertagna modellen är Z-score, utvecklad av Edward I Altman. Vi blev nyfikna på om denna forskning även går att applicera på företag som väljer att ansöka om företagsrekonstruktion? Med kunskap om de finansiella förutsättningarna, kan kanske fler företag med möjlighet att genomgå en företagsrekonstruktion identifieras och eventuellt räddas från en annars oundviklig konkurs. Denna uppsats syftar till att utifrån en finansiell analys studera skillnader i den ekonomiska ställningen hos rekonstruktionsföretag respektive konkursföretag. Då vi utifrån en stor mängd data vill generalisera resultatet på en hel population har vi använt oss av en kvantitativ undersökningsmetod. Vidare har vi använt oss av ett deduktivt angreppssätt och skapat en teoretisk bas innan den empiriska studien tagit vid. Den teoretiska referensramen behandlar främst teorier kring lagen om företagsrekonstruktion, nyckeltal och konkurspredicering. De modeller och nyckeltal vi valt ut, har utifrån tidigare undersökningar visat sig bra vid bedömningen av ett företags nuvarande och framtida finansiella ställning. I undersökningen framkom att de företag som ansöker om företagsrekonstruktion har lika dåliga och i vissa avseenden sämre finansiella förutsättningar än de företag som gick direkt i konkurs. Även Z-scoremodellen indikerade att rekonstruktionsföretagens finansiella ställning var sämre än konkursföretagens.</p>